Adventures abound
by dharak
Summary: The land of Uldum hides many mysteries-some wonderous, some confusing, and others plain malicious. A group of traveling companions and fighters learn that Uldum contains a force that could well end all life on Azeroth, and it's up to them to protect it.  NOW COMPLETE
1. Escape for breakfast

**I do not own World of Warcraft or anything belonging to Blizzard Entertainment. **

Emala hummed quietly to herself as she strode through the dusty desert streets of Orgrimmar. Her red raptor Pierceclaw strode quietly at her side, his spiked tail swinging from side to side behind him. To anyone who didn't know better, it would almost look as though Emala was simply enjoying a stroll, if not for the small skeleton she carried cupped in her hands, as though it was alive and injured instead of long deceased.

She was a little taller than average and had long pitch black hair streaming out from under her helm, made to resemble the top of a dragon skull, complete with horns. Her fur was also black but a tone lighter. Her eyes were green and quick, a testament to her tactical ability.

Emala's intentions with the skeleton she held were rather unusual. For one, she had tenderly snapped the skull of the small animal skeleton of the spine and strung it through a leather string, hanging it around her neck. She then crumbled the rest of the brittle bones to fine dust. Then the tauren hunter continued on as if nothing had happened.

Emala stopped at the towering gates of the city, her tooth pierced ears listening for the heralding sounds of wings. She was greeted with the steady and powerful flaps of drake wings as a shadow cast itself over her.

Almost like a gently spiraling leaf, a netherwing drake landed before her, his teal blue skin bathed in the tinted yellow light of dawn. He folded his transparent wings against his sides, his black claws and light blue paws scuffing briefly at the dirt. His horns and eyes glowed with the same light neon blue as the stripes that crossed over his back just behind his wing joints. He grinned wolfishly and swung his long tail, a sharklike fin tipping it. "Well, I got a good breakfast," he said while his jaws gaped in an expansive yawn. He shook his sharklike head afterward as if shaking of water. "Are you ready?"

Emala instantly picked up on his teasing tone. Her tenuous temper flared in response, although not very badly, considering the drake and her had been faithful companions on their travels for the last ten years. "Oh, you're asking if I'm ready? You are the one whose usually never ready." Pierceclaw ambled about her general area, snapping at the snakes and lizards that scuttled across the parched earth of Durotar. He faded in and out of sight, toying with his ability to turn invisible. The red raptor sniffed at the wind and glanced back toward the city as a pale brown hawk with black tipped wings came soaring from it, circling slowly down in their direction. The bird smoothly morphed into the form of Emala's sister, Imyra. She stood from her crouch, calmly dusting of her leather armor. She had the same fur and hair as her sister, with the exception of her copper colored eyes and the two white stripes across the bridge of her nose. She was a inch or so shorter than her sibling too.

The feral druid regarded the scene before her with a slightly amused smile. "Bantering already? Usually you wait for Zalleen to start doing that."

Emala snorted with hardly disguised laughter. "You know that Zalleen's the whole reason we need to leave here at the crack of dawn. You found him, remember? Why he decided to go gallivanting alone in Ashenvale is beyond me, but what really makes me question his intellect is that he got close to Astranaar and got captured."

Imyra cocked an eyebrow. "You aren't worried about him?"

"He might have landed himself in there by accident, but Zalleen's pretty good at twisting things to his advantage," Emala replied with a shrug. It was true that the troll mage did have a unnatural knack for doing so, no matter how impossible it seemed. A particularly disturbing example had involved a wolf pen, a quarter pound of raw meat meant to be the group's dinner that night (never ended up happening) and a explosion from the potions Zalleen was carrying at the time. In short, it had been a total disaster, one that the owner of the wolf pen had been ready to charge Zalleen for down to his last coin. Somehow he had convinced the angered orc to accept a payment in the form of some of the last of his alchemy creations that had gone undamaged, then sauntered off with all his money still intact. He'd never really let on exactly what he had done, but it wasn't the weirdest situation he had wriggled out of.

Still, Emala wasn't the leader of their little band for nothing. She wasn't willing to bet on Zalleen's luck, especially since the Alliance had him and the last thing she expected them to do was keep him alive for more than a day or two. Her tactical mind had been analyzing the situation since Zalleen had vanished, going over every detail-how many enemies there would be, the most inconspicuous way they could free Zalleen, the methods her and her friends could use. As much as he could annoy her to hell and back, he was a dexterous frost mage and a valuable asset. On top of that, she and him were friends, despite their incessant banter.

Emala was certain Astranaar was where he was being held, namely because it was the largest and most fortified Alliance post in Ashenvale, and she highly doubted they would take him anywhere else, at least for now.

There was only one more question Emala felt the need to ask. "Where's Atlanta?"

Imyra paused for a moment. "She went ahead with Bonesunder."

"Did she and that undead griffin go to free Zalleen alone?" Emala growled the words out with discontent.

"Atlanta told me she just went to get an idea of what Atranaar looked like ahead of time."

That had better be what she's done," Emala said snappily. She had already thought Atlanta was dead before, back in Northrend, only to meet the former warrior as a Death Knight of the Ebon Blade later on. Atlanta never really talked anymore and tended to remain calm and detached, but she was still a extremely talented fighter and would offer silent reassurance when needed. Emala had no desire to lose her childhood friend again, this time forever.

After a few more minutes of thought, it was clear to Emala that she would need to actually go to Astranaar to form the rest of her plan, both to meet up with Atlanta and for tactical reasons. There was only so much you could glean from envisioning.

…

Zalleen sat cross legged in the cage he had been locked in, tracing patterns in the grime on the bottom and casting glances around him from under his matted red hair. He watched as the night elves hustled past, some briefly glaring at him before continuing on their way.

It somewhat annoyed him, really. He felt that he deserved to have actual guards around the cage. Zalleen didn't like not being seen as a threat, and that was exactly what was eating at him like a persevering parasite right now.

On top of all that, it was raining, and the cage wasn't inside. Zalleen was drenched and his robes were sodden. He was very sure that the cage was charmed against any form of magic, since he had already tried using spells of all types to get himself out. He didn't quite mind that the cage was outside. The clear air helped him think, although he could have gone without numb feet.

Currently what was grating on Zalleen's nerves was the sentry they had finally sent to keep an eye on him. Said sentry was a bored looking archer, leaning against the wall of a building and effectively sheltered from the rain. He was looking at Zalleen, but as if he had been told to watch a rock all day, and the frost mage didn't like that. He was no rock.

So, from a combination of boredom and missing out on his usual morning banter with Emala, Zalleen decided to stir things up with a word war. Or at least torment his closest captor by not leaving them alone.

"Ya know, mon," he began, leaning back against the cage bars with his hands behind his head. He subconsciously wrung rainwater out of his thick ponytail. "I have a friend who loves bows. She'd probably like to see that one. The craftsmanship looks good even to my limited knowledge on bows, ya see."

He summoned some bread when he started to feel some gnawing hunger. He had discovered in the beginning of his hour long captivity that the cage didn't stop him from summoning food. He broke off a bit of the bread and offered it to the night elven sentry. "Would ya like a snack?"

The elf's face remained expressionless. It occurred to the troll mage that he suspected poison. "No," he responded in a dry monotone.

Zalleen shrugged uncaringly. He popped all of the bread into his mouth and ate it himself. By now he was really starting to regret that he had to aid in a attempt to take Atranaar from the elves. He had originally been in Ashenvale (close to home territory, of course) to look for ingredients for his alchemy potions. Instead he had been wrangled into joining a hapless attack squad under the command of, 'you are denizen of the Horde, and must obey a officer of Hellscream.' And hence he was here.

He was hoping Emala's wrath would be lessened upon his rescue when he told her that. The tauren hunter hated the new Warchief vigorously, and always scoffed his use of the Horde's resources and time, saying that fighting the Alliance instead of focusing on the threat of Deathwing and his minions was stupid. She'd made it clear she still saw Thrall as the true Warchief. Skydive, Imyra and Zalleen himself didn't necessarily hate Garrosh, but they certainly had no good opinion of him.

Back to his current entertainment.

"Ya know, mon, I have nothing to do, an ya have nothing to do, so ya might as well talk to me. I mean, ya are clearly bored out of your mind, I can tell, mon. Ah yes, boredom. That's something I almost never witness, not with my dysfunctional group of friends. It's kind of treasured. On the other hand-"

Zalleen paused, bracing his elbow on his knee and resting his chin on his clenched fist. The troll mage smirked when he saw that the night elf sentry was subtly grinding his teeth. Soon he would actually have the word war he desired.

"Aw, come on, you must have something to say. Everyone has something to say."

Finally the night elf lost his patience. "Please just be quiet," he said wearily. "It's bad enough I need to guard you. Please just stop trying to talk to me. Better yet, stop talking."

Zallen smiled impishly. "I only listen to one person, mon. And it's a certain tauren hunter, not you."

"You'll do what I damn say to."

"Ah, how bout I answer with 'hell no.' "

The night elf glared at him. The arguing began in full.

…

Imyra crouched in the brush in the form of a black and horned cat. She watched Astranaar with uncanny interest, refusing to be distracted by anything else around her. She was still as rock, immobile but alert.

Emala's plan was that she would sneak in, find Zalleen, free him, then have Zalleen use the blink spell to get out. Imyra's method of departure had been left up to her.

It was hastily devised, but that was mainly because the group couldn't afford to waste any time. Not of them believed Zalleen would remain safe if he was in Astranaar for much longer.

Despite that, it was a plan that could well work, although it was very possible they would have to improvise. Imyra was the first phase.

She saw her chance-a sizable gap in the patrolling night elves, only five feet wide but enough. She crept silently across the shallow water, causing only minor disturbance, then slipped into the layers of plants that lined the buildings. She continued this pattern until Imyra heard something she knew very well, Zalleen's provocative tone when he was bored.

She peered around the corner of the building. What Imyra beheld was a sight she had never though she would see.

Zalleen was doing what he did best, drawing forth the temper of others to amuse himself. The only guard, a grumpy looking night elf archer, was gripping his bow like he wanted to crack Zalleen over the head with it.

Imyra allowed a faint smile on her feline lips. She was betting that the guard was wishing they'd never captured Zalleen.

Either way, it was time to execute the plan.

Imyra, still cloaked in camouflage, padded slowly up behind the archer. Then she raised a heavy black paw and clubbed the elf heavily over the head, instantly rendering him unconscious.

As the sentry's unconscious body fell, Zalleen grinned knowingly, standing and crossing his arms. "Well I take ya are my rescue, Imyra?"

The tauren druid rolled her eyes. She shifted back into her normal form and inserted a thin metal rod into the lock. "We can talk later. Emala said to use blink to get yourself out of here."

After another moment of tinkering, the lock broke and the door unhinged. Imyra turned into a bird and soared upward. Zalleen spoke a spell and vanished in a small flare of white light. He reappeared on the roof of a building, then used the spell again before he was spotted by a gryphon rider who was soaring his way. He popped into sight again by the ring of water that surrounded Astranaar and was about to repeat his previous actions when a patrol of Sentinels rounded a corner.

They instantly shot a rain of arrows at the frost mage. Zalleen muttered a creative curse, then held out his hands and released a burst of frost bolts. Many froze arrows and caused them to fall short from the extra weight of the ice, but a few made it through. Zalleen ducked, avoiding two projectiles that would have pegged him in both the eye and forehead. "HEY, MON! I need my eyes!"

Zalleen summoned his water elemental. It launched water bolts at the sentinels, somewhat scattering their ranks. He followed up the elemental's attack by freezing the ground beneath the enemy's feet into a smooth sheet of ice, then produced a barrage of arcane missiles. The group of night elves retreated, but Zalleen could hear the feet of reinforcements pounding in his direction.

"Damn." he grumbled. "No way I can fight all of them." Where was Imyra when he needed her? Sure, he had needed her earlier, but well...now he needed Imyra again, as much at loathe he was to admit it.

Help did arrive for him, although it wasn't just Imyra this time. A skeletal gryphon, dagger claws spread wide, plunged from above, and Atlanta jumped off, swinging her frost imbued runeblade in a wide arch, cutting down several sentinels while the undead gryphon she had named Bonesunder savaged several others.

Atlanta turned her emotionless gaze on Zalleen. Her glowing blue eyes proposed a silent question.

"Yeah, mon. I'll be sure to explain. But for the record, this wasn't my fault," he said, defensively raising his hands. The Death Knight held his gaze for a few more moments, then grabbed the back of Zalleen's robes and mounted the gryphon as he scratched at the ground with his curved black claws. She hauled the troll mage onto the beast's back behind her and let out a low whistle. Bonesunder lurched into flight, darting off through the trees while Astranaar remained in disarray behind them.

…

Emala had plenty of choice words waiting when they regrouped at the Crossroads in the Barrens.

"What the fuck did you think you were doing, getting yourself stuck in that damned Alliance outpost? Hell, they could have killed you outright!"

Zalleen rolled his eyes. "Not my fault, mon! I just wanted herbs. Stupid commander told me to attack Atranaar with a bunch of lame-o grunts. Woulda refused, but he would've told Garrosh." He scratched the top of his head through his matted red hair. "I don't know what woulda happened, but I don't think it would be good for my health."

Emala was still glowering, but she some of her temper had dissipated. "You really should have just avoided Ashenvale in the first place." She sighed. "Now we really need to hurry if we want to make it to Uldum."

"Why are we going there again?" Zalleen asked absentmindedly, idly inspecting his staff. Lastraza smacked him lightly on the back of the head with her tail club. "Were you ever taught to pay attention?" she asked this the way a parent would, which was what led to her often being called the 'mom,' of the group, despite the fact that she was a red drake.

Zalleen sighed in exasperation. "I can't be expected to remember everything dat goes down."

This time it was Emala's turn to hit him, although she elbowed him roughly instead of smacking him. "There's trouble in Uldum, that's why, and trouble means tasks that wandering fighters like us can do, and be paid for. Besides, Uldum is a all new place for us to explore."

"Everywhere's all twisted up after the Shattering," Imyra couldn't help but add. "Uldum isn't our only option."

"Yeah, but that's were the mysteries of the Titans are supposed to be coming to light," Skydive interjected, sticking his head over Emala's shoulder. "That sounds like it's very worth seeing."

"It's a bunch of dusty old ruins, mon."

"We could learn things, too," Lastraza chided Zalleen, a gleam in her yellow eyes while the troll crossed his arms and raised a eyebrow. "And to be brutally honest, you're the kind of person who really needs new knowledge."

"I hope that's not a suggestion that I'm an idiot, mon," Zalleen said, trying to look affronted. He still let a tiny grin weave onto his lips, then laughed lightly. "Okay, ya. I'll admit I can be a right idiot." He thrust his staff high into the air and shouted, "Secrets o the Titans, here we come mon!"

With that, he hopped onto Lastraza's back and sat there expectantly. "Know how to fly to Uldum, Lastraza?"

"I know the way," Emala said with a savage looking grin, placing her helm on her head. It resembled a dragon skull, complete with horns and teeth. "I actually bothered to find the route."

"Good job, Em," Skydive said jovially. He spread his transparent wings and with a few swift and sure flaps, the netherwing was soaring off into the light of the still rising sun. Lastraza followed with Zalleen on her back, while Bonesunder followed behind with Atlanta firm in his saddle. Imryra tailed them all in her bird form, and the group began their southward journey.

…

The realm of the wind elementals was silent and dark, save for some of the glowing orbs in the soaring marble pinnacles casting ghostly light across the many intricately decorated platforms. The only sound was the wind as it danced around the structures, shrieking and howling like a living beasts in the midst of torture.

A dark outline stalked into the light of a orb. The faint white glow partially revealed his pine green scales, but left the side of him that wasn't facing the light source dark and shadowed. Blue stripes that throbbed and flickered like living lightning glowed on his legs, sides, tail, neck and his wing membrane. Claws and spikes the color of dark brown tree bark adorned his paws and lined sparsely on his back, starting from the middle of his spine and running down to the tip of his tail. He had two loops of red ribbons lined with gold and patterned with gold circles loosely encircling his neck, held together on either side by two metal medallions. The top of his head was covered by a metal helm.

The drake paused and stood stock still, almost as if he was a statue. All that gave him away was the barely visible rise and fall of his flank and the flickering stripes that he bore.

A voice came form behind him. "Al'Akir would not like that you are leaving, Stormwing."

Stormwing didn't look back, but answered anyway, in a firm and level voice that showed he had made up his mind. "I have chosen to help guard this realm, Ernar. Al'Akir did not command me to do so. I am not a elemental." He paused. "And neither are you."

Ernar dipped his head in silent dissatisfaction as he was reminded once again that despite serving Al'Akir, the storm drakes had simply adapted to life in the Skywall. Ernar lacked the garnishments that Stormwing had, and was far younger. As a result, he was seeped in resentment, although he still hid it and but up the guise that he was Stormwing's friend. Ernar thoroughly worshiped Al'Akir, which was why it stung him so much when Stormwing remained him that the Elemental Lord was not their creator.

Stormwing paced to the edge of the marble platform and spread his wings in preparation for flight. "The mortal world intrigues me," he said with a kind of awed marvel. "The Titan's creations are abound below us in this place. I enjoy viewing it form the clouds." Deep inside, though, Stormwing wished he could get closer. But he didn't know how the mortals would react, and that effectively set a bulwark for him.

Ernar remained silent. When Stormwing looked back, the younger drake was no longer there.

He shrugged his thick shoulders and jumped. Extending his minor control of the wind, his smoothly dove downward in the direction of Uldum.

What Stormwing didn't know was that Ernar was not going to be his friend for much longer.

…

The journey south across Kalimdor went fairly swiftly. During the course of the six weeks of steady travel, Emala made a point of gathering hides form the beasts they killed for dinner, both for profit and to replace the old furs they had used to sleep for the past year. To Zalleen's delight, he was able to collect a varied array of alchemy ingredients.

Regardless, the group was still weary and tired by the time they made it to the entry point to Uldum, the massive Gate of Unending Cycles.

The sight was even more awe inspiring from the air as Lastraza and Skydive glided through the skies above them. Bonesunder cawed, and the undead gryphon's cry echoed through the vast space between the two smooth sandstone brick walls of the pass, while the group gazed down at the enormous humanoid statues, all of them holding some variation of staff, that had been carved into hallows in the walls.

Imyra landed briefly on Lastraza's back and morphed back to her normal form. "Wow," she breathed, a look of awe imprinted upon her features. Then she turned back into a bird and took flight again much to Lastraza's relief, soaring down between the sides of the pass and leisurely gliding through, occasionally drawing closer to the walls and the arching back toward the center again.

"Doesn't look to much like the Titan stuff in Northrend," Emala noted with a high level of interest. "Certainly impressive, though."

"I think there's some Titan influence," Lastraza added in, her gaze thoughtfully roving over the Gate of Unending Cycles. "But you're right, there's a lot of differences."

"Enough for me, mon," Zalleen said with a wild grin of elation. "I wanna know who made dat stuff."

"There's probably natives," Atlanta's coarse voice was a surprise. The integrity of the group glanced back at the Death Knight, who was staring down into the pass. "Natives like the dwarves," she continued quietly. Then she fell silent again.

"Yeah," Emala was now cupping her hand above her eyes, squinting through the sun's glare. She had removed her helm about two days ago when they had entered Tanaris from the heat, as all of them had. The sun's glare hadn't gotten any kinder when they had neared Uldum. If anything, it had gotten more intense. "The dwarves did come from creations of the Titans. That's a good point. When I was searching for a map, I heard people talking about a sentient race down here."

Atlanta showed no further signs of speaking, and the silence was maintained until the Gate of Unending Cycles was far behind them. For the time being everyone was content with simply watching the landscape pass underneath them. At first they mostly saw sand, like Tanaris. At one point they passed between two massive structures, both resembling exotic temples.

It was a few hours after that when the group beheld a enormously welcoming change from the desert landscape-the lush green of plants.

Pierceclaw, the only one of them who had been enjoying the heat and dozing peacefully behind Emala on Skydive's back, suddenly awoke. He growled excitedly and scrambled forward, climbing on Emala's back despite her protests and sniffing at the air.

Skydive's eyes lit up at the same instant. "I smell water!"

he put on a burst of speed, Lastraza right on his tail. At the mention of water, the companions all started to feel their excitement mounting and suddenly became very aware of their dry mouths.

They soon arrived amongst a twenty foot stretch of lush palm trees, grass, and large ferns, bordering a clear river on both sides. Skydive continued directly toward the water. Realizing what he was going to do, Emala grabbed Pierceclaw around the middle and jumped off the netherwing's back, landing in a firm crouch in the shrubbery.

Skydive landed in the river with a massive splash, showering Emala and Pierceclaw with drops of water just as Lastraza landed with Zalleen. The troll mage whooped loudly when he saw the in flight cannonball. Bonesunder landed and pecked at the ground, while Atlnata slid of his saddle, holding the gryphon's reins and showing no reaction to the display before her. Imyra was standing with her mouth open, staring at the river.

Skydive surfaced after a few minutes of submerging himself, sighing with ecstasy as his hide got relief from the scorching sun. Happily churning the water with his finlike tail, the azure netherwing drake began to gulp down water in a frenzy.

Atlanta led Bonesunder up to the river and bent to cup up some water. Even though she didn't need to drink, the action would still bring relief from the heat. Emala was ahead of her. She had already poured water on her head and face after drinking her fill, and was now refilling water pouches. Lastraza was calmly lapping up the liquid slowly and deliberately, making more of a effort to savor it than Skydive had. Zalleen had his face in the river itself. He came up for air, gasping and wearing a crazy grin. "Whoa, mon. I grew up surrounded by water but I've never missed it this much."

"You were surrounded by seawater," Imyra said with a raised eyebrow, wiping her mouth after quenching her thirst. "You wouldn't be able to drink that if you tried."

Zalleen shrugged. "I could still cool off whenever I wanted."

"Good point," Imyra admitted. She rested her hands in the water and sighed in sweet relief, her shoulders slumping. "Where do we go from here?"

Emala set aside the water flasks and looked at the sky, judging the time of day from the position of the blaring sun, which was dipping toward the horizon by now. "We can probably keep going for another few hours," she decided, standing and unfolding a map while Skydive trudged out of the river next to her. "If we follow the river, we'll reach a settlement called Ramkahen."

"Plus dis riverbank's a much betta place ta camp, mon," Zalleen said lazily. "Damn desert doesn't seem invitin in comparison."

"I have to agree there," Lastraza murmured, stretching like a cat.

"Alright, then," Emala said with finality. "Let's get going."

…

The group traveled for another few hours before night fell. They made camp by the river again, then fell asleep, wondering where the next day would lead them.

**Ok, that's the first chapter of my first multichapter WoW fic. Please review and tell me what you think. Even if you are not a member of the site, my account is open to a review from you. I appreciate any writing tips but reject any cruel reviews. **

**R&R**

**~dharak**


	2. Troubles in Uldum

**Disclaimer: I do not own World of Warcraft or any property belonging to Blizzard. **

_**In the last chapter, I hinted at what's going to happen in Uldum with the encounter between Stormwing and Ernar. Stormwing himself is going to end up being a reoccurring character (I just love how the storm drake mounts look too much not to make one a reoccurring character, despite that it will make the character cast a bit more crowded). If anyone wants to guess how, I give you three guesses. This chapter will contain some scenes and details that will lead up to the main plot. **_

_**Flashbacks will be occurring in later chapters, explaining things about the characters from the past. **_

_**I'm also going to be continuing it after the characters are done in Uldum, so this fic is destined to have many many chapters, and hopefully many reviews. **_

_Ahead of time note: This chapter will contain a battle, which could get a little bloody and gory. _

_**Enjoy.**_

Dawn came, shedding the desert with a red hue. Presently, only Emala was up, standing at the edge of the river. She was looking south, watching the faint gray of storm clouds. Others might protest, saying that the gray was simply low laying cloud cover that would dissipate during the day hours.

Emala didn't agree. During her long and difficult journeys in Northrend, it was necessary to learn to predict storms quickly, or you wouldn't last long. She hated Northrend. The way Emala saw it, the only good thing that she had received from going there was the addition of Lastraza to their group, encountering Atlanta again, and killing the Lich King.

However, this heralding showed that the coming storm was still some ways off, three days at least. She heaved a tired sigh. If they hurried, the group could make it to Ramkahen before it hit.

Sometimes, being older than the others except maybe Lastraza, Emala felt she needed time to herself.

Despite all of them being adults, Zalleen and Imyra were still fairly young, in their mid twenties. Emala could never be sure exactly how old Skydive and Lastraza were, since they were drakes and had different aging patterns. From how they acted, she usually assumed Skydive was in young adulthood, Lastraza maybe close to leaving that stage. She was fairly sure that Atlanta was close to Emala's own age, but that she had stopped aging since she was now technically undead.

Emala herself was at the most nearly forty. She had been out in the world for a few years before the call went out to enter the Dark Portal and combat the Burning Legion. At first her and Pierceclaw had been alone. During the years in Outland, that had quickly changed.

After a few more minutes of quiet reflection, Emala concluded that it was time to stop and actually get moving. That involved waking the others up, a task that she often considered a necessary hindrance. Lastraza and Imyra were usually light sleepers and easy enough to rouse, but Zalleen and Skydive tended to sleep like rocks. Rather than waking Atlanta up, Emala would simply need to wait for her. The Death Knight never really slept but wandered the perimeter of the camp at night, reappearing soon after Emala woke up.

True to word, the sound of Atlanta's hooves sounded in the brush a few feet away. Emala looked over her right shoulder and saw her there, still fully equipped in her armor. The Death Knight silently pointed at their still slumbering companions.

"Yeah," Emala said in response. "I'm getting them up."

Emala walked up to Lastraza. She knelt by the red drake's head and snapped her fingers. "Up."

Lastraza yawned widely, standing and stretching her wings. "Ready," she said amidst the yawn. "After we eat, of course."

Emala grinned almost like a predator. She reached down into the brush and hauled a large crocolisk into sight, dead and already mostly skinned. "Here's breakfast."

Lastraza cocked an eye ridge. Imyra, roused by the activity, sat up and also eyed the catch skeptically. "Well, this is certainly a unique cuisine."

Emala shrugged. "Heh, it's meat." She dropped the corpse back into the grass. While her sister and Lastraza started a fire, she marched over to Zalleen and Skydive. Even though she knew it would be futile, she tried the gentle approach first. She grasped Zalleen's shoulder and squeezed it hard, then nudged Skydive's side with her hoof.

Neither of the two showed any reaction.

Emala rolled her eyes. So much for the gentle way.

Picking up a rock, she dropped it onto Skydive's tail. It wasn't a very large rock and it couldn't have hurt much, but Skydive still yelped and woke up in a hurry. "Ak! What?"

"Up," Emala said in monotone. "We have to start moving. I don't want to get stuck in a desert storm out here." As she said this, she offhandedly squirted water from one of the water flasks into Zalleen's face.

"Gak!" he grumbled, swatting the liquid off his face. "Hey, what ya do that for, mon? I was havin a nice sleep."

The tauren hunter rolled her eyes, trudging back to the river and refilling it to replace the small amount of water she had lost by using it to wake Zalleen up. The smell of cooking crocolisk came from nearby, instantly redirecting the troll's attention to the fire.

"What's that?"

"Crocolisk," Lastraza answered. She was holding the corpse above the flames in both forepaws, sitting back on her haunches. She didn't seem to care about the heat. Imyra was using a stick to manipulate the fire, the flickering flames reflecting in her copper colored eyes.

Zalleen laughed. "Ah, so, ya are cooking reptile for breakfast?"

When neither Lastraza or Imyra showed signs of laughing, his mouth dropped open. "You're serious?"

"Yes, she is," Emala said with annoyance. "You eat that, or you get no damn food for this morning."

"There's a lota definitions of food, mon. I could have grass for food."

"You mean like a common pack animal?"

"Ya."

Emala grumbled something under her breath, although there was no real anger or meaning in it. "Are you serious?"

Just then Skydive lumbered up, blinking. "Um," he muttered, lying down by the fire again. "I don't feel like moving...carry me?"

Lastraza pointedly shook her head. "No."

"Not carrying you, Skydive," Imyra said quickly, before the netherwing could even open his mouth. He moaned loudly, then rolled dejectedly onto his belly. His eyelids began to drop, but before they could close, Imyra gained a little smirk. She fanned the smell of the cooking meat toward Skydive's nose.

The azure netherwing's eyes immediately snapped open, his head shooting up from the ground. "Food! Hungry.." he said loudly, slightly drooling as his stomach grumbled. Lastraza pulled a face at the hanging saliva, then tore a strip of meat of the crocolisk with one paw and dropped it into his mouth. Skydive chewed it drowsily, staring off into the sunrise.

Imyra gently tapped him between the eyes. "Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that head of yours."

"A lot of things," Skydive muttered dazedly. Imyra rolled her eyes, then withdrew her hand as Lastraza removed the corpse from above the fire. Emala appeared seemingly from nowhere and drew a hunting knife. The red drake continued to hold the dead crocolisk as the hunter proceeded to slice it apart. More was deposited in Skydive's mouth while Zalleen, earlier apprehension forgotten, grabbed some of the food and shoved it in his mouth.

"It tastes like river mud," Skydive stated with false disgust, but was unable to keep from smiling when Lastraza batted his head with her paw. "It does not," she snapped playfully.

* * *

><p>They continued to fly south along the riverbank afterward, Skydive and Lastraza skimming close to the water the majority of the time, sometimes briefly dipping their heads in. Imyra tailed them closely, sometimes veering off into the surrounding palm trees and brush.<p>

The storm had gone from simply looming in the distance to becoming far closer, to the point where a dark and ominous thundercloud was looming over their heads. After a stray bolt of electricity sparked off the surface of the river and nearly incapacitated Skydive, Emala directed both him, Lastraza and Imyra to land. Thankfully the group had made it close to Ramkahen by air already, so they didn't have far to go. By the time the outlines of the settlement came into sight, whipping winds had emerged, causing the trees to thrash amid driving rain. Emala was sure that the desert was grateful for the rare rainfall, but it certainly wasn't improving her and her companion's day.

The group ran to the closest shelter they could find, an inn with the windows flickering a warm orange. As they approached, Lastraza and Skydive shrank into their mortal guises as blood elves. They dashed inside, slamming the door behind them and slumping against it while lightning flashed.

Lastraza braced her hands on her knees, panting. In this form, she had red robes and long black hair. "That was unpleasant."

Skydive now had tawny brown hair and leather armor. He distastefully shook his arm, scattering water. "Unpleasant? That was downright awful."

Emala, of all of them, was the most discontented. Pierceclaw was shuffling around her legs, shaking himself to shed rain from his hide. She was currently cursing the weather, twisting a lock of her hair to wring out water and scowling. "I should have gotten us moving earlier. Instead I did the idiotic thing and allowed us to sleep to long."

"Ya got us up plenty early, Em," Zalleen commented lightly, wringing out his dripping robes. "Any earlier an we wouldn't have made it five feet." He allowed a halfhearted grin. "Now ya know what it was like for me in Astranaar."

"Que the laughter," Emala said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Both Imyra and Atlanta, who had known her from childhood, had devised the nickname that had just been used. When Imyra had started to travel with her sister, she had continued to use it, and now the integrity of the group would call her Em at times.

The argument would have continued, but a tentative cough interrupted them. Still silently lining up bantering material, Emala turned to face the voice.

Despite hearing about the area from the Orgrimmar mapmakers, she hadn't heard any info about local humanoids. What she saw now at first resembled a centaur, which made her instinctively uneasy. The tauren relaxed when she looked closer, realizing that the humanoid's lower half was that of a large feline, while the upper half looked human, but with a head that looked like a cross between cat and human.

Emala managed to cover her surprise for the most part from her meager pre knowledge of what to expect in Uldum. Her only reaction was a few startled blinks, but she more or less upheld her stoic manner.

Zalleen's reaction was somewhat more extravagant. He yelped and jumped abruptly backward, slamming into Skydive and crushing the shape shifted netherwing against the wall. He uttered a curse and the two began an all out shove fest. Lastraza edged away from them, a flush of slight embarrassment tinging her cheeks. Imyra laid a annoyed hand on her forehead. Atlanta completely ignored the scenario, instead gazing absently about the bar.

"I've never encountered anything like you before.." Emala began awkwardly, a eyebrow creeping up, although not in a unfriendly way. She held out a hand, silently proposing a shake. All the while she somehow managed to ignore the scene behind her.

The feline creature grasped it and shook hands with her warmly. "I understand your apprehension. I am a Tol'vir. Some foreigners who came here before you gave me the privilege of learning their foreign tongues. I am Abasan, and I assume you wish for room and a meal?"

Skydive's stomach rumbled at that exact moment. He clutched it and glanced from side to side, trying to act subtle. Zalleen openly chuckled at his friend's awkwardness. Emala suppressed a sigh, then answered Abasan's question. "Yes, we want a room. And we'll pay for a meal tonight too. Damn storm," she grumbled under her breath.

Emala hadn't thought the innkeeper had heard her last few words, but apparently he could hear far better than she had thought. "Yes, this current storm is-"

A huge thunderbolt flashed brightly outside the windows. The resounding noise briefly seemed to shake the ground. The patrons glanced outside, then returned their attention back to their previous tasks.

Abasan winced, then restarted his sentence. "This current storm is the fourth this week. They've all been the same as this one-abrupt, vicious. They all seem to be coming from the Skywall."

"What's that?" Imyra asked curiously.

"It is the realm of the air elementals," Abasan answered, gesturing for the group to follow him to a table. "Our enemies, the Neferset tol'vir, seemed to have aligned with Deathwing."

"What?" Lastraza yelped. Her fist clenched under the table at the mention of the former Earthwarder. "Why would they do that?"

"Maybe we could find out for you?" Emala said in a unaffected tone, sitting down in a chair and clasping her hands on the table top. Her green eyes had darkened at the mention of the world's current enemy, but she didn't show any further reaction. Diehard determination was already starting to show. "We've been in countless fights and infiltrations."

Abasan shot her a grateful glance. "I personally cannot condone you to go there, but our king can. King Phaoris would be very grateful, although gaining a audience with him could take some work on your part."

"Such as?" Emala inquired calmly, while Zalleen came trooping back loaded with food, followed by Atlanta. The troll eagerly began sampling it, while Abasan replied to the question. "Helping the locals out with their own troubles. They'd be able to vouch for your audience."

Emala smiled in response, although it wasn't a happy smile, but the kind that a hardened veteran would offer when they knew very well danger was all that awaited them. The smile of someone who had seen disaster at its fullest, and lived through it.

"Very well then," she said softly. "Will do." Then she allowed a genuine and warm smile. She then arose and departed for the inn's small bar.

Zalleen couldn't help but smile when he saw the leader getting up and striding toward the nearest source of alcohol. Compared to others that he had met, Emala never seemed to let go of her stoic manner or flammable temper. Moderate drinking was basically the only thing he had ever seen her openly enjoy, besides fighting. The resident mage returned to obnoxiously digging into his food.

"Hey," Skydive whispered, gently elbowing him in the arm. "Let's have a eating race."

Zalleen grinned widely. "You're on, and ya gonna lose, mon."

Lastraza groaned in exasperation. "Why is it that every time we are in a bar, you two decide to be so immature?"

"It's because they aren't at all mature," Imyra snickered.

Zalleen turned a deep blue. "Hey, mon! I am totally mature." He cleared his throat and started to talk in a false air of formality. "Miss Imyra, may I ask permission to eat the way I desire?"

Skydive stifled a snort of amusement. "Nice," he said with barely disguised glee, disregarding Imyra's indifferent eye roll.

"And completely misguided," Emala's voice came from directly behind Zalleen. He started and coughed as some food went down the wrong way. Skydive whacked him in the back, while Emala sat down in her original spot, a keg of beer in her right hand. She cocked an eyebrow at the display. "I suspect you just learned the dangers of eating like a savage."

"More like ya startled the crap outa me, Em," Zalleen responded, but he was still grinning at didn't sound at all angry. "So, ya volunteered us to deal with problems around here?"

"Yes," she retorted. "Some issues appear to spring from the surrounding Titan ruins, which I would like to get closer to anyway. And this Skywall place sounds like it could be very interesting."

Zalleen had forgotten the third thing Emala seemed to enjoy. Vast interest in Titan ruins and the prospect of conquering danger. It was both something he admired and cursed, although usually the leader's decisions ended up being proven correct and worthwhile.

"Ya, well," he added with a shrug. "That was the point a comin here. But if it gets us killed, mon," he said, making a finger gun at Emala, "My ghost is gonna haunt ya, Em."

"Or, I could be dead too," Emala sucked down a drought of beer. She licked her lips. "Anyway, we could both be spirits, so I could shut you up still by gagging you and stuffing you in a closet."

Skydive cracked up, pounding a fist onto the table top. Lastraza bit into a slab of meat, eyes flicking with an amused gleam between the two. Atlanta had her elbow on the table with her chin propped on her fist, watching noiselessly. It was hard to see if there was any emotion in her eyes, although Zalleen felt he could see the slightest hint of a smile on her lips.

It could have been wishful thinking on the troll's part, though. Atlanta seemed to have numbed out any emotions and larglely forsaken speech. According to Emala, the former warrior had used to be far more social, and the tauren hunter would often say that she missed Atlanta's laugh. Zalleen would love to hear it, but in the many years they had been traveling together, he had never once heard Atlanta laugh.

That gave Zalleen the most brilliant idea.

Stealthily he slipped his hand under the table and poked Atlanta's leg with the end of his fork. Then he dropped it, bent to get it, and purposely fell to the floor.

If he was hoping that would make the Death Knight laugh, he didn't achieve it. Wild laughing came from the others. Even Pierceclaw was able to imitate a laugh with his limited vocal cords.

When Zalleen clambered back to his feet, he rubbed the back of his head and grinned. He spared a glance at Atlanta. This time he was certain she was smiling, with a slight trace of mirth even. It was gone quickly, but he had seen it. Now all he needed to do was get a laugh out of her.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere in the storm, the figure of a young storm drake stood perched atop a massive stone building, with a cluster of walls and statues ringing the perimeter. It carried plenty of resemblances to the Titan ruins in Northrend, but seemed to have a more primal feel and appearance.<p>

Ernar stood unaffected in the midst of the wind and rain, then proceeded to glide down from the top of the structure. He completely dismissed the lightning bolt that flashed through the sky half a second later.

He stood before the gaping square archway, the Titan text around it showing him that he had found the right place. With a careful and ominous dexterity, Ernar stalked down the length of a dark stone hallway, paying no heed to the statues that lined it. With their carved stone weapons facing him, they looked oddly as if they were ready to throw them, impaling intruders.

Ernar was undaunted. He continued until he arrived at a sealed door, made of black iron and impossibly tall, barricaded with spiked beams of steel.

He could make out the smallest hint of access-a tiny keyhole. But it wasn't shaped like he would expect. The keyhole was shaped like a star, surrounded by a circle carved with Titan runes.

Ernar's eyes gleamed greedily. _My ticket to Al'Akir's court. I will show the Windlord that I am a worthy lieutenant by eradicating all those who are not loyal to him. _

Ernar's eyes narrowed in frustration when the thought crossed his mind. "Dammit!" he growled, lightning flickering over his form from the explosion of temper. "I didn't count on a key..."

A series of gasps sounded from behind the young storm drake. He glanced behind him with the corner of his eye. What Ernar beheld was a group of humans and a few trolls, all wearing bandanas and ragged desert clothing. All of them were dripping wet.

The largest human, clearly the leader of the bandits from his stature and scars, reacted first. With a irritated glare, he yanked a gun from the grip of a stunned ally and aimed it directly at Ernar's forehead. Despite the apprehension visible on his face, it was obvious he wasn't going to stand there cowering, which actually made Ernar respect him somewhat.

With that thought, a idea started to worm its way into the young storm drake's head. _Maybe this could be beneficial for me..._

"Move, drake," the human demanded in a gruff tone, taking a step forward. "Sentient or no, I have no patience for complications."

The corner of Ernar's mouth quirked up. "You think you can challenge me?" He laughed without a trace of humor. "I could defeat all of you."

To prove his point, he spread his influence throughout the surrounding air. Lightning danced along Ernar's body, creating wild bolts that mercilessly rained down on the bandits.

It wasn't a strong pulse, and the young storm ceased the storm of electricity after a few seconds. But it was enough to achieve his goal.

The bandit leader remained stonefaced, but Ernar could see a small flicker of fear cross his features. He knew immediately that he had achieved in bluffing him and his companions into backing down.

"I have a better proposition," Ernar continued, flicking his tail toward the locked door. "A key is needed for that. If you help me obtain it, you will share half the reward."

It was all too easy to read the crafty and subtle smirk on the human's face. No doubt he thought Ernar hadn't seen it. He could already tell what mundane thoughts were racing through the lowly mortal's mind-double crossing and claiming everything in the end.

Too bad for the bandits, the storm drake already knew this and had planned how to get out of it.

"Just one thing before we start the actual treasure hunt," he said tonelessly, gazing out into the thrashing storm with a malicious smirk. "I need a poisonous regent from the riverbank. In order to rid me of a 'friend' of mine. Stormwing will not interfere."

* * *

><p>In the morning, the group finally got their first good look at Ramkahen. Bright sunlight now poured down on a sandstone city, paved with the same rock. Two level buildings with square perimeters were placed close together, lining wide streets. The structures had tarps of cloth stretched between wooden rods that had been placed both on the edges of the roofs and occasionally above doorways, providing shade. The city plan resembled the low steps of a ziggurat, with three levels arsing up from the ground. Two massive cat headed statues, carved with armor and spears, stood two hundred feet tall by the part of the city facing the bank of the river.<p>

Tol'vir were everywhere, in the streets and bartering and managing market stalls. Zalleen immediately became enthralled. "Mon, these guys are everywhere."

"Duh," Imyra said with a eye roll. "This is their city."

She could understand Zalleen's excitement, just without the heaps of questions. Imyra had seen a lot of things since she had begun to travel with her older sister, but she felt that she liked Uldum's scenery.

Lastraza was having similar thoughts, but she was also slightly more preoccupied in another sense. The mention of the Skywall from the night before had been nagging at her all through the night until morning. The red drake felt she had heard something during the night, like a roar.

Lastraza shook her head. She must have imagined it.

She felt Skydive poke her arm. "You alright?"

She gave him a questioning look. "Yes. Why did you ask?"

"Because you looked like you were in a trance."

"I wasn't," Lastraza replied. She gave Zalleen a irritated glance when he wriggled his fingers in her face. "Stop it."

Zalleen held up his hands in mock defense. "Just checking that ya weren't completely zonked out."

A dry chuckle came from their right. The four turned and saw her standing behind them, holding a rolled up parchment.

"It's fun sometimes to watch the banter rather than being part of it," she said with a small smile. She unrolled the sheath of paper and held it up for the rest to see. "This says bandits have been murdering caravans and pillaging temples. There's a heavy bounty on their heads, and it could very well gain us an audience."

"Okay," Skydive said with a wide yawn. "Where are we going, then?"

"East," Emala replied, already striding in said direction. "No lollygagging."

Zalleen stopped staring at a fruit vendor's cart and trotted after her. Lastraza, Skydive and Atlanta followed, while Imyra took to the air as a bird. She circled and glided above them as they left Ramkahen, and began to travel across the fertile riverbank. Once there, the two drake members of the group shape shifted back to their normal drake forms.

For a few hours they roamed eastward on foot, enduring the sweltering heat. Emala keenly studied the sand and picked out the barest details of travel, like the faint ashes of a fire and some burned wood, coupled by filaments of food scraps. Subtle tiny hints that only the eyes of a practiced tracker could make out. After the hunter was certain of their path, she turned to her companions.

"Well, mon?" Zalleen asked, his fingers drumming impatiently on his staff.

"There's definitely a trail," Emala answered, dusting her hands off and rising out of her crouch. "It started several hours from civilization, and the only way that could happen is if someone was deliberately staying away. Only those with foul intentions would bother with that."

"Fair enough, Em," Imyra responded. "But what if they aren't the same guys?"

"Only way to find out is by following the trail," her sister responded. "Atlanta, you have Bonesunder? We go the rest of the way by air."

The Death Knight nodded silently, swinging herself into the saddle of the skeletal gryphon. Bowing their necks, both Skydive and Lastraza allowed Emala and Zalleen to climb on just between their shoulders and the bottom of their necks, one on each of them. With a few powerful flaps, the two drakes were cutting through the desert air. The flight was riddled with sudden gusts of wind, but nothing climatic. The drakes skimmed close to the sand, ensuring that Emala could keep the trail in sight.

"Temple ho!" Zalleen shouted, pointing ahead while one hand shaded his eyes. Sure enough, the towering form of a ancient stone temple was ahead, the details lost in the glare of the morning sun.

The closer they got, the more Emala's instincts started to sense disturbance. Her skin prickled under her black fur, but she couldn't dismiss it as simply being hot. In addition, she had a gut feeling that danger was close. She'd learned a long time ago not to ignore those feelings, because they were usually right.

Her narrowed eyes spotted the sure signs of their quarries, a single trail of footprints. From what she could discern, the prints belonged to trolls and the booted feet of either human or elf.

Emala gave the area one final sweep. She could find no trace of any other trails. After circling the temple once, she could confirm that there was no other way in. Emala rejoined her companions back at the singular entrance.

She held up a hand and raised one finger, keeping the others down. The form of silent communication sent a clear message-to approach with silent caution, with absolutely no talking. The idea was to go for a silent approach. Skydive and Lastraza began to glide silently on the air currents, their wings cutting silently through the air. Bonesunder followed in eerie quiet, Atlanta casting quick glances about.

The two drakes came within the point where they could latch onto the contoured rock entrance with their front paws. Their leader made a quick gesture at the walls, communing the next phase of action. Emala had always favored subtle approaches, and hence had worked out a system of silent signals with the others a long time ago. As they neared, Emala whispered a question into Skydive's ear. "Hear anything?"

The azure netherwing nodded. "I can hear them."

She nodded, satisfied with the information given by the drake's superior hearing. Emala roped one arm around the base of Skydive's neck as he grasped the rock wall with his front claws, flipping the rest of his body sideways. He dug his hind claws into the right wall and pressed himself against it. Lastraza did the same, then copied Skydive as he began to crawl along the rock. When the two drakes neared the statues, they leaped from the wall and landed with hardly a noise on the head of a statue. Emala and Pierceclaw climbed of Skydive's back. The tauren hunter knelt quietly, removing her bow from where it was slung over her shoulder.

The weapon was a powerful looking longbow, dubbed Vhishka by its owner, made of flexible metal and tied with feathers and animal teeth.

Keeping a wary eye on the ground below her, she removed a trap from her worn backpack and set a crimson crystal in it. Emala then swiftly attached the trap to a plain arrow that lacked a point, aiming it square toward the center of the hallway.

Opposite of them, on the head of another statue, Lastraza and Zalleen braced themselves. Zalleen stood in a spellcasting stance, while Lastraza scissored her jaws in preparation.

Atlanta landed Bonesunder just outside the temple entrance. The skeletal gryphon trotted over to one side while Atlanta took the other, holding her runeblade at a horizontal angle. Their part of the strategy was to block any attempt at escape.

Emala was a hunter, and she didn't want her pack to lose the prey.

It was a few tense minutes before she knew that patience had paid off. Sometimes it amazed her how quiet her boisterous group could be when they were focused.

Steps sounded below, echoing against the stone. A group of fourteen humanoids rounded the corner. From their attire and rugged appearance, it was concurred that these were the bandits the group was after. Oddly enough, the trolls and humans were largely empty handed except for a small wooden box.

Emala's eyebrows briefly creased in a frown. Why would they come here just for something that small and not take anything else?

Rather than bothering herself about that in the present, she set the thought aside for later. Emala released her hold on her bowstring just as the group of bandits came within a foot of the area between the statues.

The trap went sailing silently down, landing just in time for one of the trolls to trigger it.

A explosion of flames erupted into being. The group of vandals scattered briefly in confusion, while some flailed about amid the now fading flames of the trap, hair and clothes alight and covered in burns. The regenerating abilities of the troll was healing the burns, but the human caught in the blaze was cursing vehemently, every part of him save for some parts of the face charred and inflamed.

A round of fireballs came flying down next, successfully impacting one bandit and sending him sprawling against the wall. He was instantly unconscious when he cracked his head on the rock. Frost spells from Zalleen followed the fire up, entrapping them.

The crack of guns sounded. Emala ducked and jumped, Skydive aiding her fall to earth as the top of the statue's head became rained on by bullets.

Emala landed in a maneuverable crouch, while Skydive went soaring into the air again. Distracted from her by the nether drake, the bandits directed all of their firepower at Skydive. He pivoted and swopped, becoming an azure blur that used both the air and the walls as his tools to evade. A few bullets slightly nicked and grazed him, but Skydive was able to vastly remain unharmed, raining neon blue energy bolts down on them. Three fell, but the majority began to either fight back harder or run. Zalleen and Lastraza dropped from from above and began aiding in the battle, Lastraza using her claws and tail in a storm of physical blows and fire to ward off and maim the bandits. Zalleen but up a frost shield and attacked with frost bolts and rains of arcane energy.

The bandits soon revealed that they had more than guns. Some began to bombard Zalleen with arcane spells, while others threw down shaman totems. Lightning was summoned from a bandit shaman in a attempt to ground Skydive. The netherwing dexterously twisted in midair and avoided it, only to have a gun aimed square at his chest.

Before the gunman could even think about firing, one of Emala's heavy black arrows went sailing through the air with a deadly whistle, thunking into the back of the enemy's neck. The man fell limply to the ground.

Emala didn't even blink. A slightly morbid smile was on her lips. "Alive or dead," she droned flatly, her green eyes cold as flint. "No one kills _any_ of my friends."

she whipped around with blinding speed, launching three arrows at once. One pierced a bandit's leg joint, causing the human to howl in pain. Another thunked into a troll's chest, just barely missing his heart. He snarled and ripped it out, the natural healing kicking in. despite that the wound was still spilling blood. The third arrow stabbed another bandit directly in the forehead, causing the man to instantly die from brain damage.

A battle cry sounded behind Emala. She whirled around and drew one of the two lightweight sabers she had sheathed by her waist and blocked an oncoming blade with it.

The bandit sneered, no doubt thinking he had leveled the playing field. Suddenly a low growl emitted from behind him. Pierceclaw seemed to materialize from thin air as he shed his invisibility, landing with claws spread wide on the enemy and tearing into his back with his talons.

The foe howled in pain and tried futilely to shake the raptor off. He managed to block Emala's first saber, only to feel the second one rip through his chest. Emala kicked him in the stomach with a heavy hoof, then slammed the hilt of a saber into his temple. The bandit fell unconscious.

Emala sheathed the sabers and took up her bow again, her eyes still cold. "If you know what's good for you, don't wake up. I don't mind killing those who try to harm me."

**Well, that's the second chapter. 9 page document. It was kind of fun for me to reveal the side of Em that comes out in a fight.**

**This battle does have a point, as does what is in that wooden box. I cut the battle in half because for one thing, I felt like having a cliffhanger and I feel this story needs an update, and for another, I didn't want to make this chapter tediously long. Although if you would prefer the chaps to be linger, tell me. **

**Anyway, I hope this was satisfying. Review please (anonymous reviews accepted)**

**sincerely,**

**~dharak**


	3. More than bargained for

**Disclaimer: I do not own World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment does.**

Lastraza whipped her tail club in a wide arch, knocking three bandits back. She shielded her head from a blast of shaman lightning with her wing, then unleashed a wreath of fire at the enemies before her. They cried out and scattered as the flames washed over them.

The red drake's paws briefly glowed with green light. The healing magic swirled about both herself and her allies, slowly healing their injuries. Lastraza ducked as a sword swooped overhead, nearly cleaving her head off. She reacted instinctively, her jaws snapping closed on the flat of the blade. Despite the fact that it somewhat cut her tongue, she simply increased the pressure and tore the weapon from the bandit's grip. Then she lashed out with the speed of a snake, her claws sinking deep into an enemy's shoulder. He fell to the ground with an agonized cry, leaving the way free for Lastraza to barge forward and launch into the air. She smoothly sailed out of the thick of the fight. When she landed, she whipped about and shot out several small fireballs. They landed haphazardly, scattering the enemies further.

Much to her dissatisfaction, one managed to get by her. Lastraza roared when she felt a heavy hammer slam into her side. The smell of ozone and the sharp electrical shock followed.

The jolt of electricity ran up and down her body. Movements hampered from the shock, Lastraza found herself cursing her temporarily hampered range of motion. By some miracle, she was able to evade it another blow, but her movements were to sluggish at the moment to move a second time.

A blast of neon blue fire imploded before her, sending the knife wielding troll staggering back as the shock wave hit him. Skydive swooped down and bit into his shoulder, swopped upward and released him. With a nasty crunch, the troll crashed headfirst onto the unyielding stone ground from a thirty foot height.

Zalleen heard the noise, but he paid it no heed and continued on his reign of destruction. He froze one enemy solid while he pummeled two others with a rain of arcane bolts. Another bandit outmaneuvered the range of the attack, coming at the troll mage with a sword drawn. Zalleen emitted a short yelp and ducked, then erected a frost shield, causing the bandit's sword to stop short. A white tinge of frost began to spread along the blade as the other troll cursed. When he tried to strike Zalleen again, he swiftly sidestepped. The instant the sword hit the stone floor, it shattered. The multitude of metal shards went pinging along the ground like ricocheting hail. Zalleen smirked as his foe strung out a fresh line of curses. Then he raised his hand and a gust of chilling wind blew forth, freezing the other troll to the spot.

"Sorry, mon," Zalleen said sarcastically, tapping the ice. "Had ta do it. I'm rather keen on keeping myself alive, ya know."

He didn't have the chance to torment his prone enemy any longer. The sound of a rifle cracked the air, and the troll mage blinked out of the way. The bullet flew harmlessly through the air where his head had been a few seconds before. He reappeared in a flare of light behind the gunman, then summoned his water elemental, which proceeded to launch a attack directly into the bandit's place. Then it flung water bolts at three others, slowing them and allowing Emala's arrows to slay two, while a blast of Skydive's fire erupted atop another, instantly rendering him unconscious and fiercely burned.

Imyra was ferociously joined the fight. She phased from bear to cat, biting limbs and twisting them to the point of breaking, then savagely tearing with her claws. The three bandits she had targeted first were already down, and the druid pounced on the leader of the enemies in cat from. She tackled him to the ground and rolled, Imyra pinning the man close to her with her claws and her teeth buried in his shoulder.

At this point, Atlanta had elected to advance. The frost Death Knight stalked forward with all the silence and grace of excelled practice, and swung her runeblade in a blinding arch. The weapon cleaved directly through the flesh of a bandit, while diseases invaded his flesh. He shuddered as telltale blotches appeared on his skin, then tried to spear Atlanta with his polearm. She parried and then struck again. The bandit managed to deflect it, but he was too slow to stop Atlanta from bringing the flat of her runeblade down on her enemy's head. The hard impact momentarily stunned him. Atlanta executed a perfect downward slash, cutting the man open from top to bottom. He stumbled and fell, starting to lose consciousness from blood loss. The Death Knight whirled and slashed again, this time at the troll that had come up behind her. This one was swinging a heavy broadsword, which he brought up in time to block as Atlanta's blade went flying at him. The runeblade glanced of with a shower of sparks.

Atlanta paused, her glowing blue eyes affixing themselves on her foe. For a moment she stood very still, almost statue like. Her fingers flexed on the handle of her weapon. The enemy swung his broadsword in a sideways arch, intending to cleave the Death Knight in half. Atlanta had other plans. With an otherworldly speed she sidestepped, then quickly jabbed at the troll's leg with her blade.

The cut produced was shallow, but it achieved what the owner wanted. The green purple glow fled from the weapon, sinking into the skin of the leg through the shallow cut. The troll stumbled as the diseases infected his blood vessels and began to hinder his mind. Atlanta swiped at his chest, her blade glowing white and tearing across the chest, inflicting a bloody wound and spreading frostbite around the perimeter. His regenerative abilities began to go to work, but they were hampered by the frostbite. They were burdened even more when the troll bandit strained his muscles to move the broadsword in a downward slash, only for Atlanta to divert the weapon's path with a heavy kick and cut into his chest again. This destroyed the work of the regenerative cells instantly and deepened the damage. Atlanta dodged another sweep of the broadsword, then grasped his wrist in one hand and flung the bandit over her shoulder with one mighty heave. He crashed to the stone floor on his back, and Atlanta wasted no time, bringing her sword down directly in the throat, severing through the bone. The bandit was dead instantly.

At this point, the number of opponents had dwindled drastically. Now there were only a total of three cronies and the one bandit leader, whom Imyra was still grappling with, left.

However, at this point, the man had struggled free of Imyra's claws and was now weaving back and forth, firing at the druid with a rifle. She agilely weaved around them, but this could not last.

A shot succeeded, and Imyra's shoulder began to bleed. She yowled in pin, stumbling to the ground.

It immediately drew the wrong kind of attention.

The instant Emala heard the pained cry of her sister, she planted two of her arrows in the chest and neck of two of the remaining lackeys, then lit a arrow aflame and fired. The bandit leader, distracted, moved in time for the arrow to pierce his shoulder instead of his neck. Imyra took advantage of the distraction and began to back away. With a low growl, Lastraza lashed out with a claw, taking the last bandit out of the fight and leaving their leader to stand alone. She bounded over to Imyra and bent over her, shielding her with her wing membrane and beginning to use her healing magic on her injured comrade.

Pierceclaw launched himself at the scarred man, his claws spread wide. The burly fist of his foe closed around the raptor's neck, but his hind claws were still on their way. The vicious talons tore into his chest. Before the enemy could tighten his grip, a blast of neon fire slammed into his back, licking along his clothes. The bandit leader dropped Pierceclaw and began to wildly swat at his back. He attempted to run, but Zalleen froze his feet in place. Atlanta then proceeded to stalk up like death itself, and plant her sword in his chest. The man's eyes went wide and he dropped limply to the ground, dead.

Atlanta ripped her blade out with a ghastly sucking. She briefly looked down at the bloody blade, then stepped away. Emala came up and gazed down at their former enemy with contempt. Then she raised a hoof and applied pressure to the skull of the body. There was a crack, and everyone but Emala winced as the skull shattered. The hunter picked up one of the bloody shards and nodded in content. "Job done." Stringing the shard onto her necklace, she picked up the box and slowly stood. She turned it in multiple directions. Emala's green eyes were narrowed in thought. "But the matter of this box..."

A disdainful snort echoed down the stone hall.

After traveling with two drakes for years, Atlanta and the others had come to recognize a variety of draconic noises and body gestures. They had even managed to learn some words and phrases in the dragon's natural dialect. The snort they had just heard came from the powerful lungs of a drake without doubt.

Atlanta sheathed her bloodied runeblade, keeping her hand on the hilt. She turned, staring down the length of the hall. By her side, she sensed Emala tense. The hunter slipped the chest into her backpack and took a large step forward until she was standing next to the Death Knight. Skydive landed on Emala's other side, while Zalleen, Lastraza and Imyra came up to form a line.

The lone form was indeed a drake, but unlike any the group had seen before. His skin seemed alive with electricity, and the eyes glowed blue-not unlike Skydive's neon blue ones, but these were a lighter tone, almost white. Worse, they lacked the hearty emotion that Skydive showed on a regular basis. Instead, they looked murderous and cold, not unlike a snake's.

"Imbeciles. Idiots," Ernar grumbled, swiping at one bandit's body with his tail. "Can't do their job right." He lifted his gaze from the expended pawn and fixed it on Emala, clearly showing that he knew what the hunter had placed in her backpack. "Now, I demand the box from you, mortal."

Emala sneered out a curse word and then spat on the stone floor. The drake recoiled, his nostrils flaring. "In your twisted dreams, scaly."

The drake's shoulders tensed up. He growled, and Atlanta's fur and hair seemed to stand on end, although it wasn't from fear. Atlanta never seemed to feel fear anymore ever since she had been risen as a Death Kinight. There was now static bristling in the air, dancing along everything metal.

The drake hissed, then launched a bolt of lightning from his open mouth. The group split in half to avoid it. With an enormous flash and an earsplitting crack, the lightning hit where they had been standing a second before, creating a massive crater. Shards of rock rained down, pinging off Atlanta's plate armor as she stood from her crouch. She began to silently slip her runeblade out of it's sheath, while Emala notched an arrow. The others were still blinking and rubbing at their eyes from the close proximity of the flash.

Ernar hissed again. He bounded forward, claws rasping on the rock. He had only gone a few feet before Emala's arrow flew. It pierced his shoulder and stuck there, while the green tinge of poison began to show like the strands of a green spider's web.

Ernar skidded to a halt, but wasn't able to stop before Atlanta's outstretched sword cut through his chest.

His eyes widened as a shocking realization crashed over him. Mortals had hurt him. Those pathetic, lesser beings had hurt him.

The momentary shock lasted long enough for Skydive and Lastraza to launch fireballs into the side of his head, causing Ernar to stumble back. Zalleen's frostbolts pelted him next, followed up by a gust of hail from Atlanta. The drake felt the ice start to freeze on his form and felt a cord snap within his mind. All patience gone and burning with humiliation, the storm drake elected it would be best to retreat before he met a unfortunate death at the mercy of insects.

Growling, he began to channel his limited magic. A great weight slammed into him, the huge claws of a bear slicing through his hide. With a creative draconic curse and hiss of irritation, Ernar threw Imyra off. She landed deftly on all fours in cat form.

Ernar fixed his burning gaze on Emala. "I'll be back for that!" he bellowed savagely.

Emala's response was a vulgar statement only heightened by the fact that she was braced to shoot. Her green eyes glowed with a burning determination and savagery. "Just try it, fucker. There's no way in hell I'm giving it to a piece of shit like you, even if I don't know what it is."

There were times when Atlanta wondered just what kind of things fermented in her leader's head. This was just one example of the vulgar language the hunter had strung out.

Imyra made to charge again while Emala released her arrow, but the storm drake had already vanished in a blink of white light. Imyra's claws closed on empty air and Emala's arrow zipped past, clattering to the floor some feet away. _It looks like a blink spell, _Atlanta noted, pulling a rag out and beginning to clean her blood coated weapon weapon.

Apparently she was not the only one who noticed, because Zalleen was staring with a hawkish gaze at the spot were Ernar had been. "Did he just teleport like a mage, mon?" the red haired troll sounded like he didn't quite believe what he had seen. Lastraza padded up to him and gently whacked him on the back of the head. Zalleen straightened with a yelp of surprise. "Hey!"

"It's not that strange," the red drake said with a unusual bluntness. She seemed to be more concerned over Zalleen's well being, circling him and inspecting the troll for wounds with a motherly concern. "I use magic to heal you guys."

"No matter what crazy disaster you get yourselves and us into," Emala grumbled. She had produced a rope from her backpack and started tying the dead and unconscious bandits together. The box appeared to have migrated back into her bag at the same time that the rope had left it.

"It is true that full grown dragons are usually more associated with magic," Imyra's sentence seemed somewhat bogged with lethargy. Atlanta noticed Lastraza shoot a concerned glance at the druid. Imyra had never been good at healing spells, digging deep into the feral arts instead. "Still, drakes do sometimes practice it too."

Currently Imyra's copper eyes looked dull. Back in her normal form, it could be clearly seen that she was still holding her shoulder. Although the flesh looked healed, it was obviously still bothering her.

Regardless, she still smiled in satisfaction. "They got what was coming to them," she said with a great amount of delight.

Emala humphed, having taken the box out again. Her eyes were once again fixated on it. She held out the end of the rope she had tied the bodies of the bandits with. Obeying her unspoken signal and not daring to argue, Skydive grasped the end of the rope in his mouth. "Why do I need to be the one that has to do this? I'll get rope burn on my tongue."

"How do you know that you will?" Lastraza snorted, walking up beside him with Imyra resting comfortably between her neck and shoulders.

"Besides, someone needs to be pack mule," Imyra added.

Skydive rolled his glowing blue eyes. Zalleen sniggered uncontrollably, covering his mouth with his hand. Atlanta ignored them all, then sharply whistled for Bonesunder. With a clatter of bones, the undead beast appeared back from the shadowy realm it inhabited when the Death Knight didn't want him around. She grasped the creature's reigns as it shuffled and pecked excitedly at the bloody ground. Then Atlanta calmly walked up to Emala and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Emala turned and looked at her friend. Atlanta could see many emotions churning in her green eyes-confusion, worry, steely determination. She couldn't see any fear, but the Death Knight knew very well that the hunter had learned to hide it exceptionally well.

Atlanta simply couldn't seem to feel any of her emotions anymore, as if they were buried underground and completely inaccessible. She would stay awake for hours at night, trying to connect with them. All the efforts had been futile. It seemed like the Lich King had stolen her emotions forever.

Atlanta shoved the tormenting demons from her mind and resolved that it would be best to return to Ramkahen as fast as possible. That goal seemed to be exactly what Emala was thinking, as she scowled in frustration at the box and then snapped her fingers. The sharp noise broke the ongoing continuous banter that had been the source of the other's attention for the past few minutes. "We're going back to Ramkahen, now. And then I'm cracking this damned box open."

Her tone was harsh, but the burnt of it was aimed at the box. Emala seemed incredibly vexed by it. Atlanta had also been studying the box for a few moments. She could see how her leader could get frustrated with it. The item was made of plain wood, yet Emala had been unable to break or pry it open.

* * *

><p>By the time they made it back to Ramkahen and collected their reward, Emala was absolutely seething.<p>

She had tried everything to open the box-prying it open with her saber, cutting it in half, pounding it with a rock, having Zalleen cast spells on it in a attempt to open it, all attempts ending with the same result. The wooden box looked exactly the same as it had a hour ago, like it was made of some kind of indestructible metal instead of wood. By now, it actually seemed like a possibility.

Currently the tauren hunter was pacing back and forth in the room they had rented in the inn. It had been going on for the last few minutes, but it seemed longer. No one would be surprised if Emala wore a trench in the floor.

"Em, maybe ya should take a break..." Zalleen began tentatively.

Emala fixated him with a fierce green eyed glare. The troll mage faltered. Then the leader resumed her furious pacing. She had always had a compulsive urge to satisfy her curiosity, and the more difficult it was the more she took it as a personal challenge.

Curiosity wasn't the only thing that was driving Emala. It was obvious to her that the drake they has encountered in the temple had wanted the box for a twisted and evil reason. Discovering what it held seemed like a good way of guessing the drake's intention. Or at least coming close.

Skydive was idly scratching at the floor, staring absentmindedly out the window. Even in his Blood Elven guise, his eyes looked the same. Currently, they were narrowed in thought. He had been trying to place what kind of drake they had encountered. Regardless, he could think of nothing.

Imyra was sleeping, recovering more from the bullet wound. Atlanta was sitting in on the floor in a corner, her knees drawn up to her chest. From her secluded spot, the Death Kight watched her friends as mute as ever. She seemed to be just as engrossed as the rest of them in the mystery of what they had found.

Predictably the silence eventually drove Zalleen to break it. "Alright, mon, this isn't getting us anywhere."

"You think?" Skydive grumbled. "Damn box is impossible."

"It does have a lock," Lastraza pointed out. "Maybe it can be picked."

"None of us are lock pickers," Emala said flatly.

"We could find someone else," Atlanta said quietly, looking up at her allies. "Like a rogue, maybe?"

Skydive frowned. "Do we know any rogues? I don't think we do."

Emala sighed with discontent. "We'll just need to look around. At this point anyone who can pick a lock, I'm willing to ask them to help."

**Not to thrilling or long, but hopefully it's good. I was going to make it longer, but I figured this story needed a update. Anyway, this is a good place to stop. **

**Review please, tell me how I did. **

**~dharak**


	4. Discovery

**Disclaimer: I do not own World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment does.**

_**One note before we start: I'm going to try using first person in this chapter, so when it says (name: POV) that means its the first person point of view for that character. Tell me if you prefer first person to the previous writing style. **_

**Emala's POV**

Do I enjoy being at my wit's end because of some stupid box? That would be a definite no.

Even I myself didn't know why the thing was of such interest to me. But my thoughts would continually go back to the drake we had encountered in the temple. I knew he wanted this thing, but figuring out why would be the first step to discovering his plot. I knew that it would probably get us into a mound of trouble, but I had a sneaking suspicion that this was all linked with Uldum's troubles somehow.

So that was how I ended up walking endlessly through the streets of Ramkahen, looking for an expert lock picker. And part of my focus was forced mainly on Zalleen and Skydive, as the two never seemed to keep focused. Twice I had to reprimand them for irritating stall merchants. They may have meant no harm. With Zalleen, though, disaster was a very likely possibility at the least possible time. Skydive was a bit more responsible, but not by much.

Once the two wandered off and we lost sight of them. Lastraza stormed off to look for them, and returned ten minutes later with them. She was scolding them like she was actually their mother.

Between the two of us we took care of our little band. I'm not the nurturing type, never will be. I was the one who led us through thick and thin, and Lastraza was the one who worried about our health and injuries. She never seemed particularly concerned about leading. I often suspected the idea scared Lastraza more than it excited her.

After the seemingly endless hours, we finally located someone who could help us. Problem was, she was a worgen.

I had doubts that a member of the Alliance would help us. I wasn't sure if being all the way out here, practically separated from both our factions, would make a difference. She could still decide to attack us.

On the other hand, rogues were usually willing to do anything for a price. Regardless of anything, including factions.

At first I wasn't sure if the worgen was even awake. She was sitting with her back against a stone wall with her head tucked against her chest. Much like me and Imyra, she had black fur and darker black hair. The hair was unruly and some was shadowing her eyes. Her long pointy ears were laid back. Her armor was mainly gray leather, marred and patched from heavy use. Two vicious looking silver daggers were strapped to her belt.

I stopped a few feet away from the rogue and began to analyze her position more carefully. I had heard plenty of stories about how jumpy a rogue could be.

Sadly, someone else didn't have that sense. Zalleen suddenly strode by me and put his hand on the worgen's shoulder. "Hey-"

Before he could finish the rogue's eyes flashed open, silvery yellow like the moon. In the span of a second one of her daggers was at Zalleen's throat. I just stared for a moment, then felt my temper rise at the blatant display.

"Idiot!" I shouted, storming up to him and momentarily forgetting about the worgen. "What the hell were you thinking? Sneaking up a rogue is _always_ a bad idea!"

"Uh," Zalleen began, but couldn't finish as the rogue's dagger inched closer.

"One more move and this goes in your throat," she growled.

I sighed. I was preparing to play peacekeeper when Imyra took over. My sister came forward with her hands up, showing that she wasn't armed-at least not visibly.

"He didn't mean to attack you," she said slowly. "We just wanted to ask you something, ah.."

"Felizara," the rogue supplied in a flat tone.

"Felizara," Imyra continued, still talking in that calm and measured tone. "We need someone to pick a lock for us."

Felizara regarded us with narrow eyes. "So you aren't attacking me," she deduced, removing her dagger from Zalleen's throat and placing back on her belt as she stood. "And out here," she continued, eyes agleam, "no one of importance will know if we do a little business."

By 'business,' she clearly meant, 'I expect gold for this.' That was fine. I knew how to barter. As they say, a rogue's honor is bought in gold.

Zalleen inched backward, probably fearful that Felizara would attack him again. Imyra didn't move, but motioned at me. Clearly I was to finish the conversation.

"Fine," I said coolly. "You get your money, after you crack this."

With that, I withdrew the box from my backpack. Felizara looked down at it, shrugged indifferently, and held out a clawed hand. I gave her the item, but I subconsciously was marking her every move. I wasn't entirely sure how sincere the rogue was.

The worgen knelt on the sandstone street. She inserted a tiny silver pin into the keyhole and began to move it about, poking and prodding within the lock meticulously and with absolute focus. I crouched next to her, watching. The others crowded around me, Zalleen hanging back and still wary of the rogue.

After what seemed like a eternity, there was a faintly heard click. Felizara straightened up, holding the box out.

I couldn't help but stare for a moment. I had half expected her not to give the item back.

She noticed. "Not my business what's in here," she said flatly as I took the box from her. "I just want the gold."

I nodded, holding the now loose lid closed with my thumb while I rummaged for the money. I produced a fair number of gold coins and dumped them into the rogue's hand.

"Thanks," I said shortly.

Felizara gave a mock salute and pocketed the coins. We then left, although I couldn't help glancing back to see what she was doing. The rogue watched us for a moment, then walked off in the opposite direction, disappearing around a corner.

**Zalleen's POV**

Honestly, after all the effort to open the damn box, what was inside didn't seem very worth it (never tell Em I said that, she'd kill me.)

A little brass key was what we found. It looked like something you would find on the street, rather than in a locked box.

We where now outside the outskirts of the city. Lastraza and Skydive had returned to their drake forms.

"I'm not impressed, mon," I stated flat out. Emala shot me a crippling glare form the corner of her eye. I swear that if looks could kill, she wouldn't need weapons to fight.

"You're a mage! You should know runes when you see them," she said with exasperation.

I looked again. This time, if I squinted, I could see runes. They were hardly obvious, though. The thing was only an inch long. A magnifying glass would've been needed to make them out with a glance.

"It's tiny, ya know. It's not a surprise I didn't see those things when I first looked."

"Can you read them?" Imyra asked.

"Ya," I responded.

I plucked the key up and began to look at it closer. At first the runes didn't seem to spell anything out. It seemed like they had been woven and intricately placed as simple decoration. I didn't realize how close it had gotten to my eye until the star shaped tip nearly poked it. Skydive's paw began to inch it's way over my shoulder, and I smacked it with one hand.

"Hey!" Skydive yelped, withdrawing his paw. He sat back on his hunches in the thick green grass. His tail slapped the ground once, matching his disgruntled expression. I was going to try and think of some clever response when I realized that my first impression had been wrong. The runes did make words, and what they said made my eyes go wide. What they described was something that sounded like the voodoo tales that I had heard when I was younger, but this seemed far more ominous.

My abrupt silence didn't go unnoticed. Emala's eyes were narrowing in suspicion. The others were simply staring at me in confusion and some amounts of shock. They probably thought my sudden silence meant I was about to drop dead on the spot. I couldn't help it. My brain felt like it had stopped functioning.

"Zalleen?" After two and a half minutes, it was clear Emala was losing her patience. Her tone was one I had learned meant nothing good: a tone that basically meant, 'I'll damn you to hell if you don't respond.' I had seen the result of remaining silent when we had interrogated enemies in the past, and I didn't want to be on the receiving end, even though Em's wrath would be lessened on me.

"Oh, ya well," I began, hastily clearing my throat, "dis thing definitely says something. Not sure exactly what, but the wording isn't exactly pleasant."

"How so?" Lastraza inquired, her eyes narrowed.

Not knowing what else to do, I began to read the words aloud. "'The halls of the Ultimate One, given to the Titans at the dawn of time; the means to originate, the means to destroy.' See what I mean?" I finished with a tone of eerie foreboding, although it was more for effect than actual meaning. Little did I know how much of a foreshadowing it would turn out to be.

"Wonderful," Emala grumbled, beginning to pace. "That entire thing is a riddle that makes absolutely no damn sense."

"True enough," I agreed heartily, slipping the key into one of my robe pockets. "Plenty ominous but not a ounce of helpful info, don't ya think?"

Skydive seemed to mull this over for a moment. "What does it mean by the Ultimate One? A Titan, maybe?"

"No ideas here," sighed Lastraza, hanging her head. "It might've helped if that box had a map in it too."

Imyra's eyes lit up with the birth of sudden inspiration. "Map! That's a good idea," she said excitedly, jumping upright and dashing over to Emala's bag. Her sister did a double take and opened her mouth to object to Imyra going to her things. Correctly predicting the coming response, the druid quickly said one simple sentence. "Just hear me out."

The look on Emala's face was a weird mix of uncertainty and partially annoyance, probably from Imyra digging through her backpack. I was never certain why, but Emala seemed to value her things a lot more than seemed rational. The one time I had asked why, she had just responded with a snappy response that basically amounted to telling me off.

I couldn't help but laugh. Emala glared daggers at me. Her expression had gone back to the familiar front of anger. "What are you laughing at?"

"You," I replied back between sniggers. "You looked silly with that expression."

"Do I?" she smirked and strode over to me. Her hoof planted itself on my toe. I yelped, hopping on one foot and holding my throbbing toe. "Hey!"

"Warned you," she responded.

"Actually," I answered back teasingly, placing my foot back on the ground, "I think I already have a way to pay you back." With that, I proceeded to yank on some of her hair. Before I could do it a second time, Emala had grabbed my wrist in a tight and forceful grip. Imyra had been absorbed in the map the whole time with Atlanta peering over her shoulder. Skydive and Lastraza had been watching our spat, while Pierceclaw was snapping at fish underneath the surface of the river. Sometimes we seemed to act more like kids than anything else.

"You two done?" Imyra muttered from our right, tracing her finger over the map.

"Um, ya," I said nonchalantly. "I think."

Emala scowled at me, then turned away again and knelt by the map with her sister. "What exactly was your idea here?" she asked with the faintest trace of uncertainty.

Imyra continued to study the map. "There's tons of ancient ruins around here, right? Maybe we can find something."

Emala sucked air through her teeth, producing a negative sounding hiss. "There is a problem with that plan. This map was only marked with the path into Uldum and then down the river to Ramkahen. I was only able to find that temple earlier through tracking and even then the desert had nearly covered any signs. There could be thousands of ruins out there and we would have absolutely no idea were to look."

"I think I do," Skydive quipped.

"Since when do you have bright ideas?" I asked jokingly.

Skydive rolled his eyes in good humor. "That weird drake from earlier. Maybe we could track him. It seems like _he_ has a pretty good idea of where he was going."

"If we're trying to find a unknown kind of drake," Lastraza added onto the sentence, "We should probably look close by the Skywall. It could have come from there. After all, we don't know anything about that place either."

Until that moment, I had nearly forgotten about that. With all the other things we had just encountered, the elemental realm of air had been shoved into the back of my mind like a spare tool I didn't need.

"Is that were that drake came from?" I asked, propping my chin on my closed fist and crouching among the foliage.

Emala shrugged, the steely gleam of determination already gleaming in her green eyes. She stood to her full height and shouldered her backpack and bow, taking the map back from Imrya. "Only way to find out is by going there."

**Skydive's POV**

Honestly, I do have good ideas. Okay, maybe a large amount of them haven't been that great..like when I tried to use some of Emala's herbs on some of our travel food to make it taste better, or when I thought one of Zalleen's potions could be used to enhance my flight speed only for it to make me sick and cause me to empty the contents of both my stomachs. And then there were about a million other ideas that had gone south. Still, I was fully capable of flashes of brilliance. I just focused more on my flying than thinking.

The jerky wierdo drake from the temple had grated on my nerves like nothing else. I had wanted to rend him to pieces. If I hadn't taken a partial blow from the lightning bolt he used, I could have done it. Instead I had been forced to use a fireball. Then, just when I could fly again, the weirdo had pulled his disappearing act. I was still mentally mulling over that in a kind of obsessive stupor. I felt I had been way to slow back there. I don't _do_ slow.

I was brought out of these thoughts by a annoyed voice saying something to me.

"Uh, yeah?" I said distractedly. I heard Emala grumble something under her breath. Then she answered the question with a considerable air of irritation.

"I _said_ you need to fly low. Stop daydreaming and get your head back into the hunt."

I nodded. The action seemed to at least halfway appease Emala, at least mostly. I got the feeling she was still keeping an eye on me. I heard the harsh rustle of metal and feathers as she adjusted her quiver, then held Vhishka at her side, carefully keeping it away from my beating wings but still it a position to be used if needed.

The plan was to fly out to a small group of barren sandbanks out in the ocean, close to the floating citadels that, according to locals, made the Skywall. Since this was a recon mission, the others had been instructed to wait by the shore and use our telescope to keep an eye out for anything that could be coming their way. This was basically because we had no way to contact them from sandbanks. My first question about that plan was how we would spy if they could see us easily. Emala's response had been, "you'll see." That, in my opinion, is the worst answer ever. What made me even more worried was that besides her bow and quiver, Emala had removed all her armor and was now wearing only the casual leather shirt and pants she wore below it. Her purpose was a mystery to me, as her answer to that was just as sparse as the previous one.

Once we came within a few miles of the sandbank, she gave me a instruction that nearly made me stop flying in surprise. "Dive into the water. We're swimming the rest of the way to those sandbanks."

"Come again?" I deadpanned.

"You heard me," Emala snapped back, Pierceclaw laughing behind her in the form of rasping growls. I rolled my eyes, wondering just what she was thinking. I did it anyway, directing my flight path down into the water. I landed with a series of splashes, folding my wings and allowing myself to sink until only the top of my head was above the water. I shivered a bit as the cold seawater washed over me. It sharply contrasting with the gritty desert air I had gotten used to. That, and I had never liked swimming. I had a kind of irrational fear of it, because there was the possibility of drowning. Up in the sky, there was always air unless you went way to high. Even though the sandy bottom was just five feet below me, it wasn't doing much to change my views.

Emala and Pierceclaw had departed my back moments before. They were now treading water next to me. Emala looked from side to side, then mouthed, 'follow me'. She began to swim toward the sandbanks, dipping deep under water frequently and coming up for air as sparsely as possible. Since Pierceclaw was following her lead, I figured I was supposed to as well.

I submerged myself. Narrowing my eyes, I peered through the water and began to tail Emala. I used my tail a lot as propulsion, paddling at the water with all for of my paws. I didn't think my wings would help me right now, so I kept them pressed tightly against my sides to keep them from causing me lag.

After what seemed like eternity, we reached the sandbanks. In reality it probably hadn't taken that long, most likely only about twenty or fifteen minutes. Even so, I was greatly relieved to get out. I was about to shake myself dry when Emala stopped both me and Pierceclaw.

"Hold it," she murmured. "Don't shake. Roll in the sand until you're covered in it, at least two layers."

Something finally clicked in my mind. "Is that why you left your armor behind?"

"Partly," she said back. "That and salt damage." She placed her quiver down and covered it in a layer of sand. She did the same with her bow. "Now do it," she commanded, dropping onto her back. She began to roll vigorously, and I followed suit. Pierceclaw copied our actions, although he seemed to enjoy it far more. I hadn't even thought of using sand for cover. Sometimes I forgot how clever Emala could be underneath her prickly personality.

Soon enough we were all covered by sand. Emala's paln had worked out better than I had thought it would. Lying on our stomachs, we couldn't be seen unless one came a lot closer than the Skywall. I did wonder what would happen when we dried off, but that problem had been considered too. Emala had us dunk back in the ocean when our substrate cover started to fall off, then waste no time and cover ourselves again.

We continued this cycle for a good two and a half hours. I was starting to become incredibly bored, to the point of falling asleep. Whenever I came close, though, Emala would have none of it. She poked me roughly awake, giving me a warning glare.

I grumbled about it, but did what I was told. All continued that way until I received the excitement I had been waiting for.

We were close enough to the Skywall to make out shapes-small blurred ones. Some looked like tornadoes, others humanoid, some draconic. None had noticed us yet, as they had showed no sign of coming in our direction.

Of course, things didn't stay quiet forever. Thing is, the thing that disrupted it wasn't what I had expected...

**Normal POV **

In a desolate area of the Skywall, Stormwing was pacing obsessively by the edge. His nerves were tingling, as they did whenever he sensed a approaching thunderstorm. He had a feeling this wasn't why he felt this way at the moment, however.

The feeling had started in the morning hours, when the sun wasn't even close to the horizon. Stormwing had awoken from a restless sleep, and unable to rest again had resolved to stay up and contemplate whatever was causing him so much unyielding stress. Much to his disappointment, that had not been the case. If anything, he had simply discharged the little energy he had left and had come no closer to finding out what was causing his restless unease.

Restless obsession had always been a profound problem of his. Even in his whelpling days Stormwing had never liked letting things slip by him. He'd always needed to know what was going on, regarding him personally or not.

In this particular case, he had the feeling it did apply to him personally.

The storm drake's thoughts went out the window when he heard the ruffle of folding wings. It only took a waft of scent on the wind for Stormwing to know who it was.

"Ernar," he said dully. Exhaustion had addled his mind and effectively wearied him, and it showed in his voice. "Why are you here?"

Ernar indulged himself in a smirk, knowing that Stormwing hadn't taken one glance at him and probably wouldn't until he stopped his pacing. "Just checking up on you." His caring tone and false expression of concern completely hid his deceitful thoughts. "I brought you something to help brighten your day."

As incompetent as the bandits had been, they had managed to complete at least one of the tasks Ernar had given them. The poisonous weed he had required from the riverbank had been delivered to him before the meddlers had interfered. He could at least remove Stormwing from the equation, then deal with the rest of his problems in due time.

Ernar nudged a corpse forward. It was a crokolisk, throat neatly slit. A additional rend in the stomach area had supplied Ernar with the means to insert the poisonous river plants into the stomach.

Dazed and tired as he was, Stormwing did not conceive the threat. Blinking his heavy lidded eyes, he mumbled a flat thanks and began to tear into the dead animal.

Almost instantly, the plants went down his throat. The storm drake descended into a fit of hacking, trying to expunge the poison. He coughed up a few shreds, but the rest had already dissolved and was racing through his veins.

Ernar strode forward with a sickeningly happy gait, his greedy eyes filled with a nasty relish. He slammed his head into Stormwing's chest, shoving his rival off the edge of the platform and into open air. The other drake fell noiselessly, the whipping winds tossing him about and carrying him further away.

Stormwing struggled to stay awake, but to no avail. The burning pain was too much, engulfing his mind and resolve like a flood. He finally allowed the darkness to overcome him.

Watching from safety, Ernar began to maniacally chuckle under his breath. Now there was a gap in the hierarchy-a gap Ernar would prove he was worthy of filling.

**Skydive's POV **

I had nearly fallen asleep for the seventh time when it happened. Emala was about to prepare to give me another reprimand when Pierceclaw gave a muted growl. His yellow eyes were fixed on the sky.

We both turned to follow the raptor's line of sight. Emala immediately muttered a curse and drew her bow when she laid eyes on the form coming at us. Then she faltered, frowning and looking closer.

"What the hell?" she muttered.

Confused, I peered closer at the form. It was a drake, I was sure of that, but the form was limp. Furthermore, a glint of metal could be seen and this outline looked larger than the drake we had see at the temple.

Something came over me then. The falling drake was clearly unable to control his ascent, and the speed and height of the fall could mean a instant death against the surface of the water. Whether he was hostile or not, he could have valuable information we would lose if he died. I made a split second decision.

My eyes traced the falling form. Instinct took over, my wings snapping outward and shredding through the air with one powerful flap. I was off in a blur and a shower of airborne sand particles, rocketing across the ocean. I steadily gained height by keeping to an upward slant and pounding the air relentlessly. The familiar thrill of flying at my best speed came surging through me. It spiked my nerves with adrenaline, and I felt the world slow down. It almost seemed as if time had decided to give me the exact viewpoint I needed to conduct the rescue.

If Emala had tried to protest, I had most likely blotted said protests out in my takeoff. Now the sound of the air rushing past my ears and the pounding of blood was all I could discern.

I came within twenty feet of my target, which was already several feet below me. I shuttered my wings and pitched into a sharp nosedive. The wind passed me with an audible howl. Reaching out with my claws, I grasped the unconscious drake and wrapped my forelegs around him, just behind his wings.

Now came the hard part. The extra weight caused my dive to become a sharp and dangerous dive. I threw my tail forward along with the rest of my lower body, flaring my wings and twisting. I ended up with my back facing the ocean. With another agile twist, I had spread my wings wide, gliding and at the same time tilting my wings in a attempt to slow down. I had to flap a few times to keep from crashing into the water and skimmed the ocean surface. Mist flew up as the limp drake's legs and tail dragged in the water. The next thing I knew, the sandbank had filled my vision. I saw a blurred image of Emala and Pierceclaw leaping aside before I tumbled head over tail into the sandbank, releasing the strange drake as my limbs instinctively went to protect me.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw that I had created a trench in the sand. Near the end lay the body of the drake I had rescued. I couldn't make out any signs of breathing for a few moments, but then saw the barely visible rise and fall of his flank. I shook my head as I stood once more.

Suddenly Emala had hopped onto my back along with Pierceclaw. "Grab him and move!" she commanded, jabbing her thumb in the direction of the shore. I knew better than to argue and bolted toward the motionless form. I grasped the other drake by the shoulders and took off. I set a new record for myself, covering the distance in the course of fifteen minutes. Emala and Pierceclaw had to hang on tight simply so they wouldn't fall off. I glanced back when we neared land. The activity in the Skywall had picked up, but nothing seemed to have noticed us yet.

We crashed through the brush into the hiding place of our comrades. A hurried explanation led to Lastraza helping me carry the unconscious drake while carrying the others on our backs. Since Lastraza couldn't match my highest speed, I was forced to slow down for her. I didn't particulary like that, as I felt I needed to put distance between us and the Skywall as fast as possible. The exception was Atlanta, who urged Bonesunder after us.

After going all out for a good three hours, Emala signaled a stop. Me and Lastraza flared our wings and came in for a landing. Laying our burden on the ground, Lastraza hunched over him and began to weave her healing magic while the rest of us began to set up a camp.

I was sent to gather wood. I streaked across the riverbank, dredging up kindling. I sped back to camp and came to a trademark abrupt halt, dumping the wood in the grass. Deciding it looked like enough kindling, I went bounding over to where Lastraza was tending to her patient.

I tilted my head and began to inspect the strange drake closer. Now that I had the chance, I could tell that he wasn't the same one we had encountered before. He was still plenty different, though. The drake's scales were a green like pine needles. His horns, spines and claws were brown like tree bark. Like the other drake from the temple, his form flickered with lightning, but he had a thicker and heavier build. A metal helm covered his head, and two steel medallions clamped a pair of red and gold ribbons around his neck. I couldn't tell what his eyes were like as they were closed.

One thing was clear to me-Lastraza had been working nonstop. The stranger's breathing was looking far more normal. He had even moved a few times, something far different than the limpness he had sustained when I had first caught him in mid air. He seemed relaxed in a healthy way now.

Lastraza looked rather drained. Not necessarily physically, but in terms of magic she seemed rather run down. Despite that, she looked rather proud of herself.

"I did it," she said wearily. "His condition is stable. Now the real question is if he knows anything of use."

Zalleen grinned mischievously. "So do I get to wake him up?"

"No!" Lastraza snapped.

Zalleen looked as surprised as I felt. Lastraza seemed to cringe slightly, as if shocked herself. It was rare for her to lose her temper like that.

"It wouldn't be advisable," she said haltingly. "He was nearly dead when I got to him. Even if he could be awoken now, he probably wouldn't be able to talk."

I sighed. I'd really been hoping that we could get to the fun part right away. Lastraza gets remarkably stubborn in her own way when she feels strongly about something. As such, I wasn't going to bother to argue.

Emala returned soon enough, lugging a dead crokolisk behind her. To be honest, I was starting to hate those. That thoiught faded fast as my mind looped back to the strange drake. Emala started to quietly skin the dead animal and set up a fire. Zalleen took charge of the bags, but without complaining, a fairly rare occurrence. Imyra, Atlanta and Pierceclaw kept a silent watch the entire time. I suspected we were all somewhat deterred by the presence of a possibly hostile stranger. It was safe to assume that Emala wouldn't be taking any chances when the strange drake woke up.

That is, everyone but me seemed to be able to keep a silent focus on him. As time ticked forward, I began to nod off after no change occurred. Soon enough I was asleep.

Somehow I ended up sleeping in the oddest position I had ever been in. I ended up on my side with one hind leg in the air and a wing partially folded over my head, the other wing pinned under my prone body. Fate decided to be cruel, of course. Because in the midst of my peaceful slumber, a high screech of panic sounded from a few feet next to me. I woke with an audible yelp, whacking my head against the trunk of a tree.

"Ow!" I complained, rubbing the top of my head. I sat up, blinking in confusion.

I located the source of the screech soon enough. Lastraza's previous patient had woken up, and was now crouching low to the ground. If Lastraza hadn't pinned one of his wings down with her claws out, he probably would've been in the air now. Emala had Vhishka out and a arrow strung, aimed directly at the drake's wildly fluttering chest.

"We'll start simple," Emala's voice was as cold as steel, and felt just as sharp. "What is your name?"

She had put a lot of weight on the seemingly innocent question. I had seen this tactic before. Our resident hunter would use a threatening tone and pose right from the start. This basically would convey the fact that she was in charge.

The drake's breathing and shudders seemed to be calming down noticably. His eyes were like the drake we had encountered in the temple in terms of color. The notable difference was that I could see honor and well meant determination. He met Emala's patronizing gaze. Surprisingly he didn't seem aggravated by it, and calmly replied. "I am called Stormwing."

His voice was measured and deep, matching his powerful looking body. There was a underlying hint of nervousness. It was covered to the extent where it was hardly detectable. Stormwing seemed only a few years older than me, but he acted older. Closer to Emala's age, nearest I could figure.

Emala's expression hadn't changed much, but her eyebrow had inched upward. It was a subtle sign, but that coupled with her gaze becoming more focused meant Stormwing had impressed her. It was a rare occurrence when Emala was even mildly impressed by someone she had just met almost instantly.

He continued the same way. "Who are you? What do you want..." he trailed off as a thought seemed to occur to him.

"How did I even get down here?" Stormwing questioned, anger clearly showing in his voice now. His eyes seemed to narrow from thought.

"Ernar!" he roared out. The sound ricocheted down the river like a cannon shot. Everyone jumped while Lastraza simply put more pressure on the drake's wing. Emala made a noise that sounded like a flying arrow. Stormwing immediately stiffened, probably expecting to feel an arrow hit him.

"ENOUGH!" Emala thundered. "Who is Ernar? How much so you know about a strange box?"

Stormwing tossed his head like an angered horse. His burning gaze seemed focused on some faraway target that the rest of us couldn't see. "Ernar is a storm drake like me, but younger," he stated slowly. "As for a mysterious box, I don't know. I do know Ernar has been acting strangely, and came back a few nights ago with injuries."

"We gave him those," Lastraza muttered.

"Ya," Zalleen chuckled. "We showed him, mon."

"He poisoned me."

It was a barely audible whisper, loaded with betrayal. It sharply contracted with the angry outburst from just a minute ago. I directed my gaze at our captive again and saw that he was digging into the wet ground with paw. His eyes were downcast and his shoulders a little hunched.

I was thrown into the loop. I wasn't entirely sure what he was talking about, even though I could guess. "Who did?"

Stormwing groaned as if exasperated with me. Come to think of it, he very well could be. "Ernar. I was always a problem for him. He thinks I'm dead now-it doesn't take a genious to know the rest of the Skywall and Al'Akir think that to."

I was once again none the wiser. "Al'Ajir?"

"Elemental windlord," he answered flatly. "There's a spot open in the hierarchy now, but Ernar still needs to do something over the top to impress him and get that spot. When you encountered him, he was no doubt looking for something that could sow enough disaster to make a impression."

Emala seemed to have picked up on Stormwing's hints, although she still looked a little apprehensive. It may have been because she wasn't sure if he was lying or telling the truth. I was feeling a similar way, although I did have less doubt than Emala most likely did. It was certain that our storm drake captive hadn't been falling to his death by accident. On top of that, Lastraza had mentioned poison when she had been healing him. Was it possible that we could trust him?

The others we clearly starting to think along similar lines. Zalleen was fidgeting, and he didn't seem to be bothering to have a spell at the ready anymore. Lastraza was glancing from Stormwing and then back to the sky, possibly recalling my daring rescue from earlier. Atlanta had begun to kick distractedly at the ground, a sure sign that something was bothering the Death Knight. I could envision what I looked like right now-eyes flitting everywhere, my tail flicking from side to side.

Emala was the only one who hadn't changed stance. Her green eyes were the sole sign that she may be reconsidering her initial view. They were starting to look mildly interested and even a little compassionate. When she spoke, though, the hard tone was still there. However, she didn't say what I though she would.

"Would you be willing to abandon Al'Akir?"

Stormwing was visibly shocked. His shoulders tensed and his eyes widened. Then they narrowed again, and he stared at the river as if in thought. The rest of us were staring at our leader. We'd never seen her do this before when it came to enemy beings. It could have be that she thought Stormwing was being honest, although I was fairly certain there was another angle Emala was going for. She was never one to make such fast decisions without good reason.

"I never did really agree with him," he said quietly. "I accepted the high rank in his forces that he offered with the idea I could minimize the damage he would do, but that hasn't seem to work."

We waited for a moment in silence. Then Emala spoke again. This time her tone was much more casual. "We need help navigating Uldum. The Titan ruins are everywhere around here. The key we have has a riddle, but exploration is probably needed to figure it out. Would you like to guide us?"

Stormwing was once again quiet, casting his gaze at each one of us in turn. He lingered the longest on me. We locked eyes and a unspoken exchange seemed to pass between us. A exchange of gratitude. I was fairly certain that somehow, someway, Storming knew I had saved him from death.

_Thanks. I owe you, _his gaze seemed to say.

_You're welcome_, I seemed to say back.

Stormwing turned his head back in Emala's direction. His eyes had hardened. "I will guide you," he said with conviction. "And I will bring Ernar down as a result."

_**Things are starting to hint more to the site of the final conflict now, although some may have figured it out by now. My own special touch will be added, however. The Ultimate One isn't a Titan, I can safely tell you that.**_

**Another thing: when MoP comes out, I'll be doing a story about this group going to Panderia. This may or may not be finished by that time, but either way said new story is going up whenever the expansion comes out and I buy it and play it. :D**

**Hope this was good. Review please, tell me what you think. **

**~dharak**


	5. The first guardian

**World of Warcraft belongs to Blizzard Entertainment.**

**Emala's POV**

Needless to say, things took a twist after Skydive decided to risk his hide in such a hell bent and reckless rescue. During the duration of the netherwing drake's impulsive reaction, all Emala could do was lay there stunned. Stunned by many things-the very fact he was stupid enough to fly close to enemy territory like that, how easily he could have been killed against the unyielding surface of the ocean too, and just about every other hazardous factor involved.

The hunter had to admit later, however, that as rash as the decision had been, the results had been good. As Skydive suspected at the time, she did have another angle involved in my fast decision.

Emala would get to explain her reason at dinner.

Seeing as how it was close to sunset at the time of capture, there seemed little point in traveling further today. That would also give the leader a excuse to explain her alternative motive while Stormwing slumbered.

"Okay, spill Em," Skydive demanded. "Why were you so quick to trust him as our guide?"

She took a moment to consider how to voice her thoughts. "Trust might be a bit of a strong word," Emala began, glancing in the direction of Stormwing to make sure he was asleep. His breathing seemed to match, but for all she knew he could just be a very good faker. Emala continued on anyway, though. "My main reason if due to his...I guess you can call it desire for vengeance."

She could see it dawn on their faces, the realization of what their friend was going for. It was rather simple, really. Stormwing wanted vengeance on Ernar. That should keep him sticking with them. It at least assured he wouldn't ally with this other storm drake. But he could still turn on the group, either before or after for his own purposes.

"Be prepared for the possibility of betrayal," Emala warned, casting a wary glance behind her. "Keep your wits and weapons at the ready. Just try not to let him know."

"Because he might withdraw his help?" Zalleen whispered.

"That's one possibility," Emala responded. "Although I was thinking more along the lines of him attacking us. Threatening him to continue as our guide wasn't really what I had in mind."

She still mentally filed away that option. The hunter wouldn't be above using it if it came to it.

"Sensible enough," Lastraza murmured, casting a glance back at our to be guide. Her tone was indifferent for the most part, but it was easy enough to pick up the concern a healer has for their patients. Emala wasn't entirely sure her heart was in the statement, but she nodded anyway. The others didn't seem to have noticed, and it would probably be best for it to stay that way. Emala already had the feeling they couldn't afford distractions when it came to whatever it was the group of fighters had gotten involved in.

"So we're all in agreement," the leader concluded. She was met with determined nods. "Good. We set off tomorrow."

The morning was uneventful, with the most exciting thing being Skydive tripping Zalleen when he was on his way to the river to drink. They began to argue about whether it was intentional or not, although it wasn't very heated. They were separated, and then the team and their guide proceeded to begin thier travels.

A heavy pressure had been laying on Emala's chest, like a heavy rock. She didn't like it, and suspected it was the worry and strain of fighting something that bordered on myth. Even so, this impending sense of danger was what was encouraging her to keep going. It might have crossed Emala's mind to ask for help, but she'd never liked doing that beyond the aid of her usual group of friends.

As they flew above the desert sands with Stormwing in the lead, the hunter was left much time to think. Their storm drake guide flew somewhat lethargically. Emala was no healer, but it didn't take that knowledge to tell that the aftereffects of the poison were affecting him. He didn't seem eager to talk, and none of the companions knew what to say to him. Skydive had complained to him about the slow pace, but he had ignored it.

Skydive and Zalleen started idle chatter about the sand, the strange birds that circled overhead, the different parts of Uldum we ran across. One such area was a swampy area covered with palm trees. They flew high above it despite the pestering of Skydive and Zalleen to go closer. Stormwing solidly refused, stating that the birds flitting between the trees of the swampy oasis were too aggressive. It seemed to take a multitude of extra effort for him to fly higher, but he persisted. After that, Skydive and Zalleen began to start their chatter again, but this time with Imyra joining in. Atlanta hadn't said anything, which was expected, but Lastraza had been very silent. That wasn't something Emala had expected. Lastraza usually put in a word when it came to any discussion.

Emala suspected she, like herself, had been lost in thought about the riddle. Save for when they searched ruins, she didn't focus on anything but keeping a eye on Stormwing and thinking.

The main thing that occupied Emala was the mention of the Ultimate One. Instinctively she knew that this being wasn't from the history of Azeroth, and probably had only been involved in the planet's creation indirectly. The tauren got the sense the only intentional aid that had been given was supplying the Titans with something very useful to them. The mention of halls didn't really help. Thousands of ruins had halls.

Another part of the riddle had stuck out to her. The word origination. Emala couldn't be entirely sure why, but it seemed to ring a bell somewhere in the depths of her mind. It seemed connected to some long buried memory struggling to come to light. Even with these guesses, though, she was still practically in the dark. Not much had been revealed, and it frustrated Emala. She didn't like to be frustrated. It was a feeling that aggravated her unlike anything else.

Things continued in this monotonous way for a while. Little progress seemed to have been made. Everyone seemed to become discontented, and was actually starting to think this was going to take all of eternity.

Much to their collective relief, that wasn't the case. Because on one such day, they finally had some luck. Coincidentally the travelers came across a Tol'vir trader, who reacted to the riddle with some shock and maybe a little fear. He was just as lost as they were at the part of the riddle that mentioned the Ultimate One, but when it came to the last few lines he was quite eager to explain. He informed them that the riddle could very well apply to the Halls of Origination, a huge ziggurat complex to the far east. Emala was extremely annoyed with myself when I realized I had heard that area mentioned back in Ramkahen. It was increasingly hard to swallow when she realized that the memory of that reference had been what her mind had been trying to unearth.

Stormwing, ironically, seemed the most excited. He had stayed out of sight of the Tol'vir, probably because Skywall residents weren't a very welcome sight to the natives. When he was told about it by the companions, he responded like a explorer. He took on a air of shining enthusiasm and passion. The storm drake then went into a small rant about how much he had wanted to explore the place but never got the time. Then he composed himself again and stoically said he would begin guiding them there.

It took another few day's travel, but the sight that greeted the group wasn't one they were at all prepared for-mainly because it looked so intact. The majority of the ruins they had inspected until now were mainly scattered stones, or one largely intact structure surrounded by several other destroyed rubble.

The other unsuspected factor was that it was guarded.

At first Emala was momentarily thrown into confusion when she saw the forms of Tol'vir guarding the entrance to the massive stone ziggurat. Then she was able to make out the sun shining of of them as if they wore full body armor. Upon closer inspection, Emala could see this wasn't the case. These beings seemed to have metal bodies.

She uttered a curse. The innkeeper had mentioned these metal Tol'vir as the Neferset, the ones allied with Deathwing. It had never occurred to the hunter that they would be here. Furthermore, Emala could tell that if there were guards, the entire place was probably teeming with them.

"They weren't here a week ago," Stormwing muttered. He then sniffed at the air and a growl rumbled in his throat. "Ernar's been here." He was hanging back from the rest of them, but Emala still caught his words.

"Fuck," she growled, clenching the hilt of one of her swords. "This is going to be a lot harder than I thought. We're already behind and way too outnumbered."

It seemed pretty clear that the leader was the only one who could see the full details of the guards, due to her hunter's eye. The others were still squinting.

"Are they wearing full body armor?" Skydive was the first to ask the predicted question, his face scrunched as he attempted to decipher the vague information his eyes could give him.

"They aren't wearing full body armor," Emala replied shortly, pulling out Vhishka. She strung a explosive arrow on the bowstring and held at her side. She wasn't sure if it would be used yet, but she had no way of knowing whether or not they had some form of air scouting. Best to be prepared while trying to vie for a good course of action.

Emala ran through scenarios in her mind. She finally settled on one. It might or might not go smoothly. But currently the best they could hope for was a silent incapacitation of the enemies at the door.

The hunter pressed her back against the rock ledge and turned to face the others. The first order of business was Stormwing. Drive for revenge or no, Emala still didn't feel she could trust the storm drake with her and her friend's backs.

"You should leave," she said shortly. Even without stating a name, Stormwing seemed to know Emala was addressing him from the tone. The onlookers flipped their gazes between their leader and the storm drake with inquiring gazes. They seemed to be waiting for some kind of confrentation.

_They are, _Emala suddenly realized. _They've decided this could become a battle of wills. _

She knew this was true. It was clear the instant Stormwing had first started talking that he could very well be defiant to the hunter, and this was exactly the kind of conditions that could reveal that trait.

They held each other's gazes for a moment. Emala glaring, him simply staring with steel in his eyes. Like she did.

"I want to come," he said quietly.

Despite the low volume and the lack of aggression, those four words seemed to ring through the terse silence. Emala felt a profound wave of doubt go through her. Subtly she dropped her gaze to the ground. Maybe he was sincere. Maybe.

"Fine," she ground out. "You get the benefit of the doubt. Got it?"

Stormwing seemed to see the clear will in Emala's eyes. Seemed to see that she would have no problem killing him if he tried to hurt any of her friends, or the leader herself. He nodded and stepped back a little, but stood firm.

Emala turned to the rest of her enthralled companions. "Hey!" she barked out. "Get out of dreamland, now! Got it?"

They all snapped back out of their dazes. Skydive and Zalleen nodded so hard it seemed as if their heads would fall off. Atlanta and Imyra were giving Emala strange looks, probably wondering about her brief lapse in character. Lastraza's eyes were flitting between her and Stormwing.

"Alright," Emala began. "Skydive, you get them to chase you."

"What good will that do?" he responded in a baffled tone. "I'd be outnumbered two to one."

She grinned a savage animal grin. "I thought you were the fastest flier in all of Azeroth. Are you renouncing that?"

Sure enough, the inquiry of his skills resulted in Skydive's quick rebound from cowardice. "No way am I renouncing my title! Fastest thing in the skies at your service." He puffed out his chest importantly.

"Besides," Emala continued, "you won't be expected to deal with them alone. Fly so they can keep you in sight for just a few yards, to there." She pointed at a rock ledge a fair distance from them that dropped into a six foot cliff into the sand. "Then you can cut lose as much as you want. The rest of us will be waiting there. When those guards fall over the edge, everyone cut lose. We need them silenced quickly."

The rest of the group already wore the masks of warriors. Emala myself had adapted that same thing moments before. She was just turning to trudge to the ledge when a claw tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and looked directly into Lastraza's eyes.

"He's like you," she said.

Emala could already tell were this was going, but she faked ignorance anyway. "What?"

"Not entirely like you," she continued. Clearly our healer didn't believe that the hunter didn't know what she was talking about. "Stormwing doesn't seem to have your temper. But his ideals and that look in his eyes, the aura of a leader, that is like you."

There was no sound for a moment besides the cry of a desert bird. Emala kept it that way and turned, walking back to where she had already sent the others. Lastraza followed her quietly, not bothering to push with her new idea. She didn't really need to convince her leader. She already had the eerie feeling that the red drake was right.

Didn't mean Emala had to like it.

Back by the ledge, her companions were preparing to perform their respective parts of the plan. Or more accurately, Skydive was.

Hr flexed his wings, allowing them to stretch and producing a satisfying series of small cracks as the bones loosened up. The netherwing did the same with his limbs and body. Save for when time didn't allow, Skydive always did this to prepare to fly.

"Done?" Emala demanded.

Skydive nodded enthusiastically. "Yep. So, I prompt them with fire and get them to chase me here?"

"Just about," she responded.

"Got it." The drake was off and in the air in a matter of a few seconds. He sped across the expanse of sand, marveling at his shadow as it rippled along the ground below him. He rapidly neared the entrance of the huge ziggurat structure. Skydive could see the surprised expressions of the metal Tol'vir and just as they pointed, he launched a fireball.

Skydive's neon flare detonated just before the guard's faces. He smirked as they yelled and pivoted sharply, turning back the way he had come just when his new pursuers came charging though the cloud of disturbed sand and newly formed glass fragments.

For the next few yards Skydive did as instructed, allowing the pursuers to tail him. He spun, dove and gained height in intervals like a ribbon of varying blues, avoiding the spells they launched at him and the occasional thrown spear or blade.

Soon enough Skydive was in the designated range where he could leave the pursuers in the dust. Grinning in elation, he put on a burst of speed. Skydive streaked past the rock cliff and soared into the empty air beyond it. Unprepared, the tol'vir went faster, then attempted to stop when they caught sight of the ledge. Sadly for them, it was far to late. They went skidding in the loose sand when they tried to halt. The two pursuers went tumbling over, and were met with a slew of attacks, most prominently two of Emala's explosive arrows. Skydive twisted in midair and launched a fireball as were dead before impact with the sand. Arrows, melted metal skin and frost coated the limps forms. Electricity tingled over them from Stormwing's lightning breath. A smell like hot metal in a forge drifted through the air. The metallic smell made Skydive snort. He didn't like it.

As expected, Emala didn't show any outward signs of enthusiasm, save for a bright glint in her green eyes. Once around Emala enough, it became clear that predatory glint as a sign of satisfaction.

She knelt and rifled the bodies, paying little attention to the rest of them. Skydive took the chance to dash over to Stormwing.

"Hey," he whispered. "Awesome hit."

The storm drake looked awkward. He flinched away from the other drake as if he was expecting the netherwing drake to pounce on him. "I'm better with physical fighting," he muttered. "With my claws, teeth, tail...I usually use my lightning breath closer up."

Skydive shrugged, trotting a little in place. He always preferred to be moving in some way. At least, with the exception of early mornings. Then Skydive liked to loaf around instead. "Does it matter? It still made for a awesome show."

Stormwing cast the other drake a odd glance. "You're very brash, aren't you?"

"Comes with being fast," the drake in question quipped. Skydive gave a wide grin and tossed his head proudly. "If I had a middle name-" he paused. "Actually, I can't think of anything smaller than two words. I guess if I had a _three_ word middle name, it would be Fast as Lightning."

"Jackpot!" Zaleen shouted. Skydive looked over and saw him doing a weird but fun looking dance that involved a lot of twisting and flipping. In one hand he was holding what looked like a vial of some cloudy silver liquid. It had most likely been found by him on one of the dead Tol'vir.

"Do you even know what it is?" Imyra intoned, taking a step back to avoid a flying limb. In her experience, anything that Zalleen knew nothing about wasn't to be trusted in his hands. The mage had a infamous reputation for causing minor catastrophes when he handled unknown objects.

"Nope," Zalleen replied cheerily. "But I can tell it'll be useful, just you wait."

By now Skydive was itching to join in. With two flaps he was relocated, and started copying the resident mage's dance the best he could. It probably looked pretty silly, because Lastraza was starting to snigger and Imyra was staring as the fast flier as if he was insane. The corner of Atlanta's mouth had twitched up a little, the closest any of the companions had ever seen to a smile. Skydive couldn't help but provide a exuberant grin in response, glad he had gotten the Death Knight's icy shell cracked a little. It had become a running goal of both Zalleen and himself to make that happen.

"Cut it out," Emala said curtly, standing and dusting her hands. From her disgusted and annoyed look, Skydive guessed she hadn't found what she was hoping for. In other words, she hadn't found anything deemed useful. "We've incapacitated the guards. It's time to go in."

Skydive and Zalleen stopped dancing. They shared a thoughtful, yet excited look. Even though it was dangerous, both still wanted to get in there.

"So, now we go and check if this is yet another dud?" Zalleen asked jokingly, leaning in a relaxed way on his staff. He probably knew as well as the rest of them that this was no dud. Between him and Skydive, they strived to keep a lighthearted mood going.

Emala responded with her well practiced eye roll. "Yep," she responded flatly. "May we pray by An'she's light this turns out well," she added quietly under her breath. The last bit was probably only intended for her. Otherwise she wouldn't have spoken so quietly. Still, Skydive heard it, and it caused a prickly feeling of unease in his belly. The hunter sounded like she thought they would need luck. Emala hardly ever did that, let alone add a prayer.

A chill went down his spine despite the warm desert air. Maybe this wasn't something to be all too excited about.

Suddenly the shadow of the ancient structure ahead seemed ominous.

* * *

><p>The companions soon sobered upon laying eyes on their new destination. Even with the two sentries taken care of, little comfort had been drawn. They were still entering completely unknown territory. Emala had hoped to find some source of inner knowledge on the metal Tol'vir, but she had come up with nothing. It had put her in a dank mood, although with it came extra cunning.<p>

Zalleen, surprisingly, seemed even more grim. He hadn't cracked a single joke or spoken during the few minutes they were steeling themselves to enter. This was so wildly different than the troll's normal behavior that all in company were casting glances at him. On top of that, it was a very abrupt change. Zalleen didn't normally reveal the full extent of his abilities to sense magic concentration. He still hadn't mentioned it, and never had before now as he deemed it useless.

Currently, in the mage's magic senses, the massive stone layout before him was glowing like a singular star in a pitch black sky. The amount of power was astronomical, to the point where it made Zalleen's breath hitch in his throat when it seemed to spike and undulate.

Stormwing was the only one who didn't seem to notice the troll's unusual behavior. The storm drake walked stiffly, as if his entire body was cramped and numb. He seemed to be muttering to himself. His expression was dark and brooding, a heavy semblance to a stormy sky. Although the rest of the group seemed unaffected, both Imyra and Skydive seemed jumpy. The netherwing drake's wing tips twitched frequently. It was very likely he was wired to jump into flight at any second. Imyra was stepping carefully, as if afraid of tripping a trap. For all they knew, there could well be a trap.

Emala headed the group as she normally did, her powerful longbow held at her side and loaded. She would peer around corners with careful precision. A few memories had resurfaced that she could recall about the Halls of Orignation. The primary fact that currently dominated the hunter's mind was the stories of massive, immensely powerful guardians. Wild images of what they could be and do occupied the shadows of Emala's mind like hulking beasts.

The earlier suspicion about Neferset occupation had proven all too correct. Within the hour the companions had already seen several fights. They had managed to handle all but one quick enough to avoid detection. Regardless, the group of reinforcements that had followed up one scuffle had done a good job of wearing them down further. Even with Lastraza healing their wounds, the companions now hosted a ragged and tired look. All were panting, and Skydive had a slightly wild look in his eye. He had already tried to run ahead, only to be grudgingly pulled back. Emala suspected that this was influenced by the confined space, and the fact Skydive didn't like moving slowly and carefully, but quick and brash instead.

Finally Emala called a halt. They had chosen to stop in a hollow in the wall with a massive statue. The group squeezed into the four foot space behind it. Even with two of the three drakes shape shifted into mortal form, it was still a tight squeeze. Stormwing had scrunched awkwardly into a corner just behind Emala. The hunter was positioned close to the corner of the wall so she could peer at the hallway. The drake behind her either didn't have a mortal form or simply chose not to use it. Emala suspected the first reason was far more likely than the other.

She disliked stopping even for a brief time, as she felt Ernar had gained far too much ground on them already. Still, she knew they all needed a few minutes, primarily the magic users.

Near the ends of the fights, Imyra had insisted that she heal her wounds with her own basic healing spells to help ease Lastraza's exhaustion. Some pink lines from partially healed wounds showed through the druid's fur, as she had cast the spells hastily. Still, she wasn't bleeding, and that was enough. Imyra was now kneeling before Lastraza and asking about how she felt.

The red drake's head seemed a little light, her body aching slightly were she had taken hits from enemies. Since Lastraza had wanted to heal the others more than herself, she hadn't done the best job with her own wounds. Now physical exertion and the low reserves of magic were coming back at her.

"I have water in here," Emala's rough voice permeated Lastraza's disorganized thoughts. The hunter removed a water flask from her backpack. She tossed it to the healer, who caught it and greedily drank. She briefly paused and cast a uneasy glance at her leader. "How much can I have?"

Emala shrugged indifferently. Her eyes were fixated on the hallway. "Much as you want. I don't have any mana to refresh."

_True enough,_ Lastraza thought. She drank to the point where the flash was still fairly full. Having her supply of magic energy back up, she tossed the flask back to Emala. The hunter caught it without even removing her gaze from the hallway. She slipped the container back in it's original location.

Zalleen had retrieved liquid from his own pack. He was sitting cross legged on the ground. He steadily guzzled the water as his eyes roamed thoughtfully from under his ridge of shaggy red hair. The mage had been trying to pinpoint the source of the vast magic he felt, but it was elusive. Right now he could sense a even amount of traces from all around him. This got Zalleen no closer to his goal. He capped the water and but it back, than shouldered his bag and stood again, leaning his back against the legs of the statue. He held his staff before him, both hands on the top and the bottom between his feet. "Well mon," he said. Even he had been able to grasp the need for silence. As such, he was keeping his voice down. The tone was unchanged, still enthusiastic. "How are we doing so far?"

Skydive grumbled something inaudible in a grumpy tone. The netherwing drake hated confined spaces, especially if it was underground. He wanted to be able to fly. Admittedly, the current location's halls and rooms were plenty big enough, but the fast flier still felt trapped.

"What did ya say?" Zalleen asked, cupping a hand around his ear.

"I said we aren't doing well," Skydive groused, running a hand over the wall and glaring at the stone with absolute revile. "It's been how long, an hour, two? And we haven't gotten anywhere." The netherwing drake's eyes flashed feverishly. It was a sure sign that the lack of the sky was getting to him.

Knowing how testy Skydive got in this mood, Zalleen exchanged glances with the other members of the group. The one person he skimped was Stormwing, but the storm drake didn't seem to notice anyway. He kept rotating his head and sniffing the air, seemingly immersed in inhaling it for a unknown reason.

Emala cast a meaningful glance at her sister. Imyra picked up the meaning with ease. When it came to situations involving stress, the older sibling was very prone to losing her temper. Imyra was far better at reducing tension than she was. The tauren druid walked up to Skydive with the grace and silence of a cat. Her copper colored eyes met Skydive's glowing neon blue ones.

"Look," she said softly, "we all know you hate confined spaces when there's danger around you. But we have gone further than it seems, and it won't do us any good for you to be skittish. You're our one drake air force. You need to stick with us and be ready."

Skydive blinked at her. He sighed, and his shoulders loosened. "Yeah, you're probably right." He gave a smile that almost seemed like his normal one. "I shouldn't be making myself all frantic." The shape-shifted drake gave Imyra a slight but thankful hug. Imyra accepted it. Then they ended the quick embrace.

The corner of Emala's mouth twitched as she envisioned what she would have said. It was a very fair bet that whatever it was would have been very blunt and rough, and cause more problems than solve them.

At that moment, Stormwing uttered a word in draconic. Having learned some dragontongue from Lastraza and Skydive, (chief among them curses, as the two dragons didn't carry out many actual conversations in their birth tongue) the hunter recognized it as a curse word. Emala glanced at her friends. None of them seemed to have noticed Stormwing's muttered oath.

"What is it?" she hissed at him.

Stormwing's eyes were narrowed in a focused gaze, as if he were trying to see something far beyond his range of sight. "I stopped smelling Ernar's scent trail a while back."

Emala felt herself freeze. Instantly she became aware that she had been harboring the idea that something was amiss.

_I'm missing something important! _She thought. The hunter mentally growled when she couldn't think of what she was overlooking. Shaking her head in irritation, she shoved the persistently annoying thought out of mind. "Whatever," she muttered aloud. "We need to move again."

Emala stood from her crouch and loaded her bow in preparation for their advance. "We're moving again," she said over her shoulder. "Come on."

The companions had hardly been on the move for long before they came across a enormous chamber.

If it wasn't for the giant winged tol'vir that was planted square in the middle, it would have been considered by the group as one of the most beautiful places they had ever laid eyes on. A massive vaulted ceiling, adorned with gold and silver, soared eighty feet high. The walls bore carved faces of gold, topped with blue and gold exotic crowns. A floor of sand surrounded a raised platform about a foot high, connected to the hallway by a narrow elevated path inlaid with indigo marble. Celestial patterns etched it in myriad swirls, almost hypnotizing to the eye. They flashed in the flickering light of wall mounted torches like polished blades.

The winged tol'vir bore resemblance to the smaller ones the group had already encountered, but he wore far more ornate armor that seemed to flicker with flame in some spots, almost reminiscent of miniature suns. He wore a mask that seemed a cross between three animals. It had the beak and head of a bird, long upright ears almost like a jackal, and two curving horns like a ram's. The thing that discerned it from the masks of the typical Neferset priests was that it was lined with rubies that flashed a gaudy red. Gold rings were attached to the jackal ears. The giant tol'vir held a massive sword, with a blade serrated and sharp as a brand new razor. The point was digging into the ground, it's wielder having braced both hands on the pomel. From the bulging muscles that could be seen even from several yards away, it was obvious this sword was in quite capable hands.

As it happened, Emala saved Zalleen's skin for what felt like the thousandth time that day. Talneted as he was, the hunter often felt that the mage was thicker than a rock wall when it came to looking ahead.

The instant Emala glimpsed the chamber, her eyes fastened on the formidable being crouching in the center. She instantly threw a arm out, whispering a strong command to halt. Everyone stopped but Zalleen, who was but one step from entering the lair of the dragon sized tol'vir. His eyes went wide as he stopped gazing at the chamber's intricate beauty and latched onto the terrifying thing in the center.

Before he could utter even a squeak, Emala darted forward like a gazelle, with a quiet that could only be learned from years of stalking. Her hand fastened over Zalleen's mouth. Then she yanked the mage back into the relative safety of the tunnel. Then the hunter, still clasping Zalleen's mouth, peeked around the corner. Her pounding heart calmed when she found that the giant tol'vir hadn't stirred. Emala breathed a long and quiet sigh of relief. Then her eyes flashed with their usual temperamental fire as she scowled at Zalleen.

He tried feebly to placate the angry leader. "Erm, sorry?" he mumbled.

Emala was standing like a statue. Her blazing eyes were the only things that gave the angry tauren away as a living being. "Sorry?" she hissed out. "Sorry? That's no damn excuse. You could have died instantly, blindly waltzing in there like that! What the hell were you thinking, that you wanted to die?"

Suddenly Zalleen was reminded of another time, when similar words had been said to him by a younger Emala.

(Flashback)

_Zalleen hit the dusty ground with enough force to knock the breath from his lungs. His side ached, the bloody wound on his shoulder stinging in the acrid air that blew over the demon infested land of the Hellfire Peninsula. _

_Breathing ragged, the young mage grasped his bleeding shoulder, cursing. His regenerative abilities were being slowed by the filth that had been unintentionally gotten on the raw flesh. He gripped his staff as if he were drowning and it was the lifeline. _

_He tried to think back to how he had gotten in this hell damned situation. He had taken up a job from Thrallmar that involved killing excessive packs of fellhunters to the south of the Horde encampment. They had been ranging closer. Fearing attack, the commanders there had been trying their best to cull them. But since they had to deal with other duties, they had been enlisting the help of other fighters. Zalleen had accepted the job, even though he knew next to nothing about fellhunters and had hardly been in Outland for a week. _

_Now he was regretting it. And in addition cursing his lack of thought prior. Zalleen was also beginning to write a mental will dictating where his few belongings would go. Even though he knew this will would die with him, it still felt fulfilling. _

_I suppose I really am a idiot, Zalleen thought, a rueful smile were a cherry one normally played. Guess I shouldn't gone and thrown my life away._

_The howls of the fellhunters that were chasing him played on the wind, the taunting notes drifting past Zalleen's ears. They were no doubt following the smell of blood that had trickled to the ground. He gripped his staff in both hands. He knew his mana was low. The mage had resigned himself to using the faithful item as a hammer should his magic become exhausted. _

_Should? Zalleen thought with a flat chuckle. It will run out. I'm done. Ah well, I had a good few years of life._

_The demons appeared on the ridge Zalleen had tumbled from just a few minutes ago. The bristles on their backs spiked up in a definite sign of aggression. Saliva spun from their jaws, the wicked teeth shining like white marble in the eerie light of the Outland sky. Then they leaped with ease of the ridge and landed with only slight thuds on the cracked ground below. They charged him. Zalleen began to power up the only spell he could manage in a last ditch effort to save himself. In his gut he knew it wasn't enough. _

_The demons had just come within ten feet of him when a streak of blue blew past him. The streak whipped by one of the fellhunters. The demon let out a high pitched whine as a long, gory tear appeared in it's side. Green blood flowed out. The creature staggered. Then the streak was back, but this time a paw slammed onto the neck of the beast. The fellhunter let out a choking gurgle, twitched and was still. Zalleen had enough to time to discern the form of a drake before it was off again, this time plucking two fellhunters up and spiraling straight into the air. _

_It was then that the mage remembered the last three of their pack. He looked in their direction and saw the demons had stopped running and where taking a few steps back. Then they looked back at him and growled. _

_They leaped. Zalleen's breath hitched in his throat. Guess I die at age twenty. This was his last thought before he squeezed his eyes shut and raised his hands to cast a spell. _

_Then he heard three solid thumps, coupled with the howls of dying demons. Then there were two nasty crunching sounds. His eyes flew back open in his shock. _

_The three fellhunters that had just tried to eat him were now laying in twisted poses, all dead. Each had a heavy, black shafted arrow in their chests. Green blood pooled by their twisted forelegs. _

_Not far off, the last two of the demons lay sprawled in grotesque, disjointed positions. It was clear snapped bones had play, as the angles of their forms wouldn't have been possible with their skeletons in proper order. Zalleen didn't need to see blood to know they were dead. _

_The mage looked up when he heard the flapping wings of something hovering. It was now that he discovered the blue streak was indeed a drake. He looked partly aquatic to Zalleen, with a head and tail like a shark's. His wings seemed to lack any spurs, leaving just clear membrane that glowed a soft light blue. The same coloring was present in the drake's single head horn, paws, and the stripes on his back. The drake was make, but slim and aerodynamic. He was regarding Zalleen with narrowed and curious eyes. Trails of blue light traced through the air as his wings steadily flapped. _

_He heard steps behind him. Zalleen whipped around, staff at the ready. _

_The tauren he saw huffed and waved a hand dismissively. "Lower that, idiot," she said roughly. She continued with a fair amount of mockery. "Where you trying to lose your damned life? Only a hell bent idiot would go charging after a pack of demons with no plan."_

"_Hey!" Zalleen replied angrily, the tauren's tone instantly riling him. "I killed plenty of them, mon. There's ah dent in their numbers now. That's good enough."_

_The tauren laughed._

_Zalleen started. He had been expecting the laugh of someone who wished to ridicule him. But this laugh was a hollow and listless one. _

"_There are far worse things out here than packs of fellhunters," she said in her rough voice, stroking what seemed like empty air. Zalleen started violently when a red raptor suddenly materialized there, crooning at the tauren's touch. "Believe me."_

_Now the mage actually took the time to look at her. She carried a longbow of flexible metal, obviously what she had used to shoot the demons. The tauren looked older than him by about fifteen or maybe twenty years. He estimated she was probably about thirty. Her green eyes were intimidating and fierce, but also seemed like they had seen plenty of battle and death. _

_The strange drake had landed beside her. For the first time the young troll took note of a star shaped scar that covered a fair amount of his left shoulder. _

_That must have hurt. I wonder what caused it._

"_Anyway," the hunter said gruffly, stalking past him, "I'm getting my arrows back."_

_Now Zalleen felt guilty. She had just saved his life, and he had hardly repaid her fairly. _

"_Wait," he said quickly, turning and catching up with her. He winced as his shoulder throbbed. "What's your name?"_

"_Emala," the tauren provided flatly. "The drake's Skydive. My raptor goes by Pierceclaw. You're hurt badly," she noted bluntly, wiping her retrieved arrows clean and sticking them back in her quiver. Zalleen shuddered at them, thinking of how wicked they looked. The arrows looked heavy enough to bunch through wood, and the points carefully sharpened to the lethality of a razor. It could now be seen that the black shafts were barbed a few inches behind the arrowhead. _

"_Yeah," he said, wincing again. "One of dem demons bit me. Managed ta pay them back vastly in kind. Like I said, I got a lot of dem dead."_

_Skydive smiled a broad and toothy grin, draping a wing carefully around the young mage to avoid his bad shoulder. "I like you."_

_Emala was nodding slowly, her green eyes scrutinizing him. "Yeah," she said softly. "Maybe you should stick with us, kid.."_

_(End Flashback)_

Zalleen felt himself humble at the memory. Connecting it to know, he could tell Emala had simply received a scare, and had exhibited her concern the only way she knew how.

"You're right," he mumbled. "I shoulda payed more attention, mon."

Emala let out a long breath, but she seemed content now. "Yeah, you should have."

"I'll do dat the rest of the time we're in here, I swear," he said.

"Good." Emala's eyes drifted in the direction of the chamber. "We'll need that."

**Yay, first flashback! The scar on Skydive's shoulder is a lot less visible now, to the point were it really can't be seen easily. The scar will be explained in a later flashback.**

**Zalleen's little vial is going to play a small part, but it'll be fun to write about. The whole thing with him sensing magic is something I basically made up, I think. I have no idea if WoW mages are actually capable of that in the lore. I guess if not, Zalleen's got a special talent. **

**Anyhow, hope you liked. Review please and tell me what you think. **

**~dharak**


	6. Confrentations

**Disclaimer: I do not own World of Warcraft. It belongs to Blizzard Entertainment. **

_**Note: The foe in this chap is the actual first boss of the Halls of Origination dungeon, but I've made changes to the fight to make it easier to write. This battle will deviate from the actual fight in game.**_

The first part of the plan was simple, or at least should have been. Emala's hope was that stealth would be enough to get past the guardian with a minimal amount of fuss.

She should have known that wouldn't happen. Nothing had gone as planned since entering this place. The hunter had gone so far as to curse luck in the recent few hours, even think of it as a enemy.

The giant tol'vir seemed to be asleep, as his eyes were closed and all four legs were folded under him. Emala had directed the group to stick close to the wall, and step lightly so the sand could muffle their steps.

It had nearly worked, but there was one detail neither Emala or the others had stopped to think about-the sense of smell the enemy might have.

Anhurr had always valued his duty as much as his very life. The tol'vir had been entrusted with guarding these halls eons ago, and he had long lost his grip on time. To him, it was always, perpetually the time of the world's dawning. If Anhurr knew any centuries had passed, he never seemed to indicate it.

Soon enough unfamiliar scents drifted past his mask. Some where akin to those he had smelled before, like metal. But amidst a area filled with metallic tol'vir, the scents of fur, skin, and sweat were oddities. Oddities that should not be. Anhurr didn't stir at first. He simply crouched there, keeping up the appearance of sleep. But he cracked open a eye, and saw from it that his nose was indeed correct.

Intruders.

The word sparked Anhurr's rage, then was fanned by the knowledge these mortals even had the ignorance to enter this sacred place.

_They must prove their worth. _

Anhurr stood, and turned his gaze in the direction of the intrusion.

The group of humanoids froze were they stood. The only one that seemed undaunted was the one wielding a longbow. A hunter, the temple guardian noted.

The hunter and her red raptor took a few steps forward. The tauren's green eyes were filled with challenge. She stood with a stance that conveyed plenty of determination. But Anhurr didn't care how spirited she was. The end result would be the same.

"Why are you here, mortals?" Anhurr bellowed.

"To stop a insane drake from destroying every living thing in Uldum and possibly southern Kalimdor," Emala snapped back. "Why are you here?"

"I am the guardian," he responded quietly, paying no heed to the derisive snort of the netherwing drake that stood by the hunter. "I am whom you prove your worth to."

"We don't need that," Emala snarled veraciously. "Get out of the way, you fucking overgrown kitten."

Anhurr's eyes glowed from the darkness of his strange mask, gaudy orange like flames devouring a corpse. The arrogant comment from the hunter had only served to give his anger more fuel. He ground out a harsh laugh.

"You think to challenge me?" He said. The soft tone made all the companions shiver. It was cold and sinister, like a snake if it could talk.

"What makes you so sure you'll win?" Emala savagely shouted back, her eyes blazing. Pierceclaw growled by her side. "That could very well go the other way, bastard."

The Temple Guardian growled. "Taunt all you want. It won't matter in the end."

He stomped the ground once. A chorus of hissing rose from all around the group. They edged closer to one another and stood back to back. Specks of green, black and red began to appear in the sand. The patches of color soon widened into the diamond shaped heads of snakes.

"My pets," crooned Anhurr. "We have visitors. Make them feel welcome, now." The poison in the guardian's voice oozed through the air like oil on water.

_Poisonous voice, poisonous snakes, _Emala thought, drawing her one handed swords. _How fitting. _

Anhurr grinned savagely in the depths of his mask, a cruel chuckle lingering in his throat. _This should be quite a show, _he thought, the dark corners of his mind festering with notorious images.

Currently, Emala's mind was on the snakes around them. Many were only the length of her arm, but a huge amount of the others were about ten feet long and thick as a fully grown man. When they hissed, fangs dripping noticeably with green venom were revealed. Their eyes were cold, hard flint, yellow and unfeeling.

One snapped at Zalleen. The troll mage jumped back with a yelp and generated a frostbolt, pegging the snake on the head. The serpent hissed through the heavy coating of ice, pulling back. Another coiled past it, but Zalleen was ready this time. The mage put up a frost shield. Both serpents bashed against it in their failed attempt to attack.

A nearly unheard grunt was the only sign of strain as Zalleen maintained the shield against the two massive snakes. The smaller reptiles writhed around his feet, nipping at the shield. He blinked away a few feet, then pounded the two snakes with frost bolts. The two huge snakes hissed, almost as if in distaste. Their bodies twitched as the pain of frost burn and the cold plagued their cold blood. Zalleen then pummeled them with arcane missiles.

Emala was hacking at some others with her swords. She had found that the smaller snakes lacked poison, but the space between her hooves and mail greaves had already suffered multiple bites. Thin trails of blood ran from them and matted the fur, but the hunter paid them no regard. The amount of blood she was losing from them was minimal.

She parried one set of fangs, then dodged another. She brought her hoof down on the head of the snake that had missed. The skull became a bloody mess, instantly killing the creature. Emala stepped across the limp body and had to dodge a stream of flame.

She stared in shock at the serpent, the red glow fading from between it's venomous fangs. _Fire breathing snakes? What the fuck?_

The hunter didn't have time to contemplate further. She dropped and rolled under the snapping jaws of another snake, then was back on her hooves again. Emala lashed out with one blade, hitting the neck of a snake. Then she repeated the action. The severed head tumbled to earth like a grotesque ball. She whirled and kicked another snake in the jaw when it tried to bite her. Pierceclaw was by her side, phasing in and out of visibility. He was covered in the blood of the snakes, rending their stomachs with his hind claws and shredding their scaled flesh between his teeth.

Skydive was heartily cursing.

He had gotten in the air no problem. Taking flight in a split second, on a whim, was something he was very good at.

Of course, he had never imagined the snakes would breath fire. Skydive spun and flapped, alternatively rising and falling. He pulled loops and corkscrews, doing everything he could to avoid taking a hit. So far it was working. The netherwing drake had only taken a slight burn. He would swoop low and raze the snakes with fire. Or he would bite them, crushing the necks of the serpents, tearing into them with his claws. Then Skydive had to return to evading the strings of flame aimed at him.

Stormwing's eyes blazed like lightning. He swiped with his claws, taking the lives of four serpents at once in a blinding swipe. He turned his lightning breath on two others. They screeched as the rampart electricity ran through them. Smoking and dead, the two reptiles collapsed limply. Putting all his physical might behind it, Stormwing swung his tail. It snapped the necks of three other snakes like a battering ram smashing easily through a few thin walls of wood.

Atlanta and Imyra were the two who were currently excelling. The Death Knight and the druid stood back to back, Imyra in the form of a black lion which bore horns.

Imyra savagely bit and tore, roaring. Reptile blood stained her mouth and matted the fur on her paws. She pounced on one serpent, tearing out it's throat before it had a chance to react. Then another snake shot forward, fast as lightning. It wrapped around the druid's midsection and started to squeeze.

Imyra felt the abrupt pressure. All air was forced out of her lungs, and her ribs felt like they were being crushed by a vice. Her vision began to go white, the pain growing. She felt panic clutch her heart when the snake's poisoned fangs filled her vision.

Then she heard the whistle of a blade. The head of the snake was gone, courtesy of Atlanta's runeblade. Imyra rolled and came up on all four legs.

Atlanta was still fighting like a demon. Her eyes glowed with the blue, emotionless savagery of a blizzard. She spun and hacked, her blade a blur of motion that trailed misty vapor behind it. Already several snakes lay dead at her feet, the corpses and the ground covered in icy rime. She had taken a few hits, but most had been deflected of her plate armor.

The Death Knight drove her sword through another serpent. She twisted the blade and tore it sideways, severing the snake's spinal column. With a dull throb of surprise, she realized that it had been the last.

Then Atlanta heard a arrow fly, a thunk and a dying hiss. Now all of the serpents were dead. At least, the ones they knew of.

Anhurr was standing stock still in the center of the chamber, his malicious eyes meeting Emala's green ones through the holes in his strange mask. A growl akin to a lion's rumbled in the Temple Guardian's throat.

Emala felt a cold chill run down her back._ This isn't going to be nearly as easy as killing those serpents. _

The massive tol'vir seemed to be contemplating. He glanced down at his sword with narrowed eyes. Then the weapon morphed into a slender silver spear.

"Excellent," he purred. "This weapon has the proper reach for this battle." He sneered. "As for my pets, those weren't the only ones."

Emala heard sand shifting. She didn't need to look to know that Anhurr's words rang true. "Zalleen, you and Imyra deal with those snakes. Lastraza, help them as much as you can. Only heal us if absolutely necessary."

The others nodded.

Anhurr struck outward with the spear. The group scattered as the weapon whistled through the air above their heads. Emala and Atlanta ended up to the far left, Pierceclaw by them as well. Skydive was circling above like a predatory hawk, while the other three companions had engaged the newly produced serpents.

Neither Death Knight or hunter had time to inspect further. Anhurr's spear plunged down at them, as if fired straight from the heavens. They both dodged, and the spear plunged into the sand. Anhurr tore it out and swiped at Atlanta.

She parried with her own blade. The sound of the weapons meeting rang through the spacious area like the tolling of a alarm bell. Anhurr had a height advantage over Atlanta, but the Death Knight was powered by determination and the strength of a warrior. The two began to exchange blows. Their respective weapons clanged together once more just as three of Emala's arrows flew at Anhurr's shoulder.

The heavy shafts punched through the guardian's metal skin. Black liquid, resembling oil, began to trickle out. The enemy growled and uttered the words of a spell.

Instantly a barrier of golden light flared around him. Skydive tried to shoot fire through it, only for the neon flames to disperse against it harmlessly. Emala swore harshly.

Atlanta could understand why. The shield of light was too strong to bypass.

"We could hit that all day," Emala muttered next to her. The two tauren evaded a beam of searing Light fired from Anhurr's open palm. Then the hunter's eyes narrowed. "We need to break his concentration," she ordered. "Skydive! Stormwing! Hit the shield!"

"But-"

"Just do it, Skydive!" Emala barked back, darting aside as another of Anhurr's Light spells nearly hit her.

Skydive didn't argue any further. He began to pour out a torrent of flame, and Stormwing added his lightning breath to the attack. The neon fire and electricity bolts merged together and slammed into the shield of light.

During the first few seconds, nothing seemed to happen. Then spiderweb cracks began to show. Stormwing stopped channeling his lightning and let himself plummet like a rock. He went slamming into the weakened spot of the shield. Shards of light shot out like splintered fragments of glass, and the heavy storm drake slammed into Anhurr's side.

The sheer force sent Anhurr stumbling back, his hind legs temporarily giving out. Stormwing went to bite his throat, but the huge tol'vir punched him in the gut. The storm drake grunted and his jaws snapped on empty air. Anhurr flung him away, then found that Pierceclaw had materialized by his tail. The raptor's strong jaws slammed down on the appendage and locked there, crushing.

Anhurr snarled. He whipped his tail vigorously, throwing Pierceclaw off to the side. He slammed into the stone wall. The red raptor slid to the sand, but then fought his way upright again. He hissed through his bared teeth.

Emala allowed her arrows to fly, these flaming. Some were deflected with a swipe of Anhurr's spear, but two made it past him and lodged in the temple guardian's lower half, along the flank. He retaliated by firing a spell at her.

This one imploded when the hunter evaded it, scattering sand and knocking her back. Pierceclaw's heavy weight collided with her stomach as the charging raptor had also been caught in the shockwave. With a grunt the hunter grasped her pet around the belly and removed him from the awkward position. Then she stood once more and notched a arrow, aiming it at the eyeholes of Anhurr's mask.

It was a precarious bet. Emala prided herself on her shooting skills, but the head of the enemy was in constant motion as the guardian clashed repeatedly with Atlanta's runeblade. Still, she could think of no other real alternative. Skydive was still circling, bombarding the guardian with streams of fire. Then he would dive and swipe with his claws, only for Anhurr to dodge. All the while, he continued to focus his attacks on Atlanta.

Atlanta was absorbed in the heated brawl. She sidestepped and blocked, swiping when she could with her runeblade. She cursed Anhurr's skill with his damned spear as the Death Knight feinted a strike, then tried to perform a actual attack only for Anhurr to block it. Atlanta had managed to infect him with the trademark diseases of a Death Knight. It was wearing him down, but instinctively Atlanta knew it was doing so far to slowly.

Anhurr brought is forelegs down. Atlanta sprung backward in time to avoid being skewered by the tol'vir's claws, but then the guardian's spear swept her feet out from under her. The tauren thudded heavily onto the sand.

Emala cursed and let her arrow fly.

Her shot, much to her surprise, actually flew though one of the eye holes of the mask. A horrible scream came from Anhurr. Dark oil like blood began to trickle from the space between the bottom of the mask and the tol'vir's neck.

The hunter deduced that she had hit the guardian in the eye. She wasted no time and fired once more. Her attack squarely hit Anhurr's neck.

At the same time Skydive came shooting from above in a blur. He swiped at the same spot Emala had just hit, while Stormwing leaped into the guardian's chest. The storm drake tore into Anhurr's chest with his claws and bit his neck.

Atlanta had regained her footing now, and was shaking sand from her limbs. She gazed expressionlessly at the fallen tol'vir, clearly dead as he now lay limply on the ground, black blood staining the sand. The companions gathered in a circle around him, mulling over the recent fight in silence. They were all even more haggard than before. Then their attention turned toward their only wounded.

Lastraza was hunched over Imyra. The tauren druid was unconscious, but mumbled sounds of pain were escaping from her lips every few seconds. The red drake seemed to be keeping the poison from effecting her further, but she couldn't keep it up forever.

Emala was at her sister's side without warning. She laid a hand on Imyra's shoulder, her eyes tormented.

"If she dies in order to stop that psychopathic Ernar," she growled out, "I'll have his head on a stick."

The tone of her voice was full of venom and savagery, with pain layered beneath it. Besides her father, Imyra was the only family member Emala had left.

"How is she?" Emala said calmly, managing not to sound as devastated as she felt.

Lastraza raised her head wearily. "I can't say yet," she said, her voice coarse from the constant flow of healing magic she was trying to sustain. "It was a stroke of luck I was able to intercept the venom before it reached her heart. But I'll keep trying."

Emala's green eyes met Lastraza's yellow ones. She saw the caring nurture of a mother in their depths. The red drake had always seemed to care for the younger members of the group like a mother.

"I'll carry her on my back and keep trying," Lastraza said softly. "But I can't do it without breaking the spell. Skydive, can you?"

Skydive nodded in mute agreement. She grasped the druid in his forepaws and hovered, allowing Lastraza, chanting healing incantations under her breath, to walk below Imyra. Then Skydive slowly descended, his wings churning the deathly still air. He gently positioned Imyra on the red drake's back.

Lastraza shifted her wings to that they would help keep her injured patient from falling off. For a few moments the companions rested. Then Emala urged them to their feet again, and they left the chamber behind.

The body of Anhurr lay sprawled, the metal becoming cool as life faded from him. Then a dark form entered the chamber.

Silently, he plucked one of the shards of metal from the dead tol'vir's hide.

* * *

><p>The group faced a few more battles, but the further they went the less activity they saw. They hid from a few patrols, and fought one. But altogether, it was a drastic change from constantly fighting to keep their presence secret.<p>

Lastraza was still grim about Imyra's condition. She did say that the druid was getting better, but her condition was still fragile. It would still be some time before Imyra would fully recover.

Emala's concern was highly evident. She displayed it as was typical with her, by becoming even more irritant and angry than was usual or reasonable. Soon enough all attempts to console her had been deemed failed attempts. The leader was then left alone to her own thoughts.

Finally they reached a massive door, towering at least four hundred feet in height. Since there were no hallways branching from the one the companions had entered some time ago, it was obvious there was no choice but to risk using it.

_If we can,_ Emala thought, craning her head to inspect the door fully. It crossed her mind that this door could lead to the power source Ernar sought. But she didn't feel that was the case. Despite it's size, this barricade seemed casual somehow. Emala didn't feel it was supposed to guard the ultimate prize of the Halls of Origination.

But the hunter did sense danger from behind it.

Skydive voiced what they were all thinking. "Should we open it?"

Zalleen didn't hear the question at first. He had drawn the same conclusion Emala had about the door, but not by instinct as she had. The mage couldn't sense any particularly powerful source of magic behind it.

"What was that?" he said distantly, coming out of his thoughts.

Skydive repeated the question impatiently, kneading at the ground with his claws. "I asked if we should open it. Em? What's your verdict?"

Emala stopped frowning at the door and looked over her shoulder. "It's too late to go back now," she said bluntly. "Might as well keep going."

The steadfast hunter strode toward the massive doors. She was about to inspect them for a opening mechanism, anything from a handle to a lock. To the tauren's surprise, the instant she came within a foot the stone doors began to rumble and slide upward. Sand showered down as if the entryway hadn't been used for a hundred years.

The hunter had taken a step back when the event first occurred. Now she was slowly advancing again, the other companions trailing behind her. Lastraza was last, still seeming riveted on keeping Imyra's life going.

As such, she was the only one of the group that didn't moan when they saw what lay beyond the door.

The enormous space far outshone the previous chamber. A cross shaped floor was centered directly in the middle, supported by blue and gold columns that touched the ceiling. Then they soared downward into a misty, empty space. The floor of the cross shaped platform was made of clear glass. In the center of the cross, squares of rock slid about, making different patterns. Gold runes flickered in and out of sight on their surface.

The area didn't contain a menacing guardian. Instead, groups of roaming creatures, humanoid but with hunched backs and bent hind legs, infested the cross shaped floor. Like Anhurr, they were made of stone. They had on dirty loincloths and seemed to growl and snap at each other frequently.

Other than this idle pacing, none of the companion could even begin to think of what the things were doing here. Zalleen had some ideas, among them that this was some kind of family gathering among misshapen dwarfish guys. He didn't voice this, as Emala's expression showed that ambient cursing and a plan was due. The last thing the hunter would want was to be disturbed.

She soon cracked a savage grin. "We've got a plan. Those numbskulls won't see it coming."

* * *

><p>Looking back on it, if the stone troggs hadn't been dumb as rocks themselves, they might have at least seen the first part of the plan before it happened. But then again, Emala had been counting on the trogg's stupidity.<p>

Skydive had been instructed to make a rather flamboyant, obvious display to draw them toward the far edge of the cross shaped floor. He skimmed the clear glass surface and, blowing fire, raced into the midst of the troggs like a fiery comet.

The reaction was immediate. The troggs that had been knocked to the ground scrambled back up while the ones that had the wits to move had begun to give chase to their surprise attacker.

The netherwing banked sharply to the right just as he reached the spot were the ground ended and the foggy depths began. Stone troggs, unable to stop in time, went skidding over and into the abyss. The half that had now received warning altered their course. Several fell to arrows, while a sweep of Stormwing's tail sent more flying into the air. They too disappeared into the misty unknown. A fire spell exploded in their midst, scattering the troggs even more. Then Atlanta charged in, incapacitating the troggs with her runeblade.

It was over in minutes. The companions stood panting, surrounded by limp stone bodies. There was a group remaining, but they were far off and deemed unimportant.

"Well, that was easy," Zalleen said breathlessly.

"Don't say that!" Emala snapped. "It always-"

The groaning of several beings filled the air.

"Leads to a damned heap of trouble," Emala grumbled.

* * *

><p>The four elementals released didn't have any qualms about ending the lives of the group of mortals they saw. They crept from the four points of the high glass floor, at the same pace, with the same burning desire for destruction.<p>

The fire elemental attacked first, barging forward wreathed in fire. It swept a burning claw at Stormwing, hitting his side and tearing it. The storm drake roared and struck back with a strong kick. His hind claws cut into the elemental's molten chest. He tore himself away and used his wings to hop backward, blood staining his pine green scales.

Emala had reacted from the start. The minute she saw the fire elemental, she had fired a shot directly at it's chest. It had blocked the arrow and sent a wave of fire out. Emala ducked and rolled as the wave of flame skimmed over her, coming up with a sword drawn. She tried to stab the elemental in its heart of volcanic rock, but it dodged backward. The hunter's blade cut a long gash on the elemental's fiery armor.

Before Emala could attack again, a gust of violent air surged up, rapidly swelling into a powerful whirlwind. She grabbed hold of Stormwing's tail, the only nearby leverage for her on the smooth surface. The storm drake's weight was keeping him grounded for now, but he was starting to exert high effort to stay there.

The air elemental found it's channeled wind cut off quickly. Skydive came diving down and slammed all four paws into it's chest. The netherwing and the elemental went sprawling, Skydive plunging a paw deep into the being's chest, well beneath what sufficed as skin. The elemental crumbled into a empty shell.

Before he could fly again, Skydive felt a heavy force slam into his back and knock him back to the unyielding glass surface. Ignoring the sharp pains of forming bruises, the drake twisted and thrashed, trying to catch a glimpse of his enemy.

In his state of fury, Skydive failed to note that he was actually pinned down by a pile of rocks and grit, the source having been a earth elemental that had entered the fight. With a savage roar Stormwing charged forward, then swiped with his tail. He hit the elemental square in the middle. It went sailing backward and collided with one of the pillars holding the clear floor aloft.

Emala, Pierceclaw and Atlanta had taken on the water and fire elemental, the Death Knight fighting the fire one alone while Pierceclaw and Emala ganged on the water counterpart. Lastraza had no choice but to stay where she was, and interval between healing her allies and restoring Imyra to full health, although she was more focused on the poisoned tauren. Due to that, all of the companions were minorly wounded from both the current fight and the ones in the halls beforehand.

Stormwing lunged forward and slam his heavy muscled bulk into the earth elemental's back as it went to finish Skydive. The two went sprawling, Stormwing pinning the enemy down, only for the elemental to shove him off and get upright once more. Zalleen swiftly froze the rocks over Skydive, making them brittle. The netherwing drake was then able to shatter the rocks with ease, like fragile glass. He shot into flight amid a cloud of rock dust. Then he banked and shot a blast of fire.

The neon blue flames washed over the elemental, blinding it and causing it to back up a few feet. Still, Skydive noted with discontent it had done no real damage.

Zalleen yelped as the elemental turned on him. It tried to hit the mage with the same ability it had used to ground Skydive. Zalleen put a frost shield up and deflected the ability even as he ran out of range. Then he dropped the shield and bombarded the earth elemental with frostbolts. It made to charge through the spell, only for Stormwing to ram his foreclaws into the side. The storm drake tore and bit at the earthen armor, snagging the elemental's attention. Somewhat fascinated by the spectacle of the enemy and Stormwing trading blows, Zalleen suddenly wondered just why the storm drake was willing to fight so hard for them. He didn't get the chance to think of it any longer, as he heard the slap of approaching feet.

Casting a glance behind him, the mage swore vehemently. The group of troggs that had escaped the earlier bloodbath had now noticed the struggle happening not far from them. They were still fairly far away, but that would change.

Over by the water elemental, Emala and Pierceclaw were having their own problems. The water elemental was making ample use of raging waves and blasts of frothing water. Pierceclaw tore and bit in a frenzy, once even keeping his jaws locked on the rough armor of his target. But it was far more common for the raptor to be torn away by the waves the enemy summoned.

Emala herself was fairing somewhat better, but no by much. She was just as run down as her pet. She had been yanked underwater more times than she could count, and the hunter was slightly dizzy from the difficulties of getting air while struggling against water that was controlled by a sentient being.

She had been firing arrows infused with arcane for several minutes now. She still had ammunition left, but Emala did fear depletion soon. The arrows had succeeded in afflicting spell damage and now stuck up from the elemental's surface in multiple places. Still, it fought on, even though the movements of the creature were now slower and more lethargic.

It was still a challenge for Pierceclaw. The red raptor dodged and sliced. He had already inflicted several wounds, but the guardian was steadfast. Then the raptor faded from sight.

Fooled by Pierceclaw's ability to become invisible, the elemental looked for a new target. It tried to blast Emala with water, but the hunter ducked and rolled. The attack few past her and dispersed into the air. She came up with her bow drawn and loosed another arrow. It impacted the elemental in the hole that sufficed as it's eye.

It let out a strange, warbling cry, like a cross between a shout and a howl. It lunged, but then Pierceclaw became visible on it's back. His powerful jaws came down and crushed a part of the crusty armor. The water elemental shook him off and then began to duel with him once more.

Atlanta had taken care of the fire elemental. She had dodged and blocked fire, countering it with her own icy spells. Finally she had been able to drive her runeblade into the chest of her foe and hit whatever gave it life. The thing became a empty hunk of cool rock. As it clattered to the hard ground, Atlanta turned on the water elemental. That was when the troggs reached them.

All this time Stormwing had been fighting the earth elemental. Behind him Zalleen had taken out the vial of silver potion he had found earlier. Grinning impishly, he began to add a green liquid to it from his alchemy supplies.

By now it had become clear to Zalleen that this situation was going from a near victory to a total loss. Unless, of course, he did something. He watched the silver potion swirl hypnotically as the green ingredient began to mix in while he shook it.

"What are you _doing?" _Stormwing panted with exasperation. He blocked one strike by the elemental, then pummeled it with his tail. Dazed but not dead, it began to advance once more.

"Take cover, mon!" Zalleen hollered above the tumult of noise around him. "Fire in da hole!"

With that, the troll grabbed Stormwing's wing and tugged him closer, then promptly hurled the vial at the mess of troggs and the elementals. The rest of the group ran like hell in Zalleen's direction, their hearts pounding. All of them, save for Stormwing, knew how unpredictable the mage's impromptu mixtures could be. Their effects could never be predicted.

As it turned out, the effect of this potion was the strangest they had seen yet.

The vial hit the ground and a explosion of green liquid sprayed up. The two remaining elementals were instantly destroyed, while troggs flew into the air. The scattered drops of the remaining potion fell like rain.

Untouched, the companions stood safely out of the way. Then a wet plop sounded to Emala's right. Face laced with confusion, the hunter looked down. Her eyes widened.

A frog was there, on it's back. Confounded, Emala looked up. The last of the stone troggs were still falling, shrinking and turning green. By the time they neared ground, they were frogs.

One landed in Zalleen's messy red hair. He plucked it up by the right hind leg and grinned lopsidedly, brushing his bangs out of his eyes. Then he dropped the amphibian to the ground.

"Dat turned out well," he chortled, his eyes gleaming.

A frog landed on the bridge of Lastraza's nose. She went cross eyed trying to look at it, then shook her head irritably. The frog fell to the ground and joined the other transformed troggs as they hopped randomly across the floor, croaking.

"Where's Skydive?" Atlanta said, her hoarse voice seeming to ring.

The initial surprise that the Death Knight had broken her mute streak was quickly forgotten as the others registered the question. Emala looked up sharply, scanning the air for any sign of a azure wing. Then she felt something poking at her leg. The hunter looked down, and her brow instantly furrowed.

It was Skydive, but he was smaller than a housecat.

Zalleen's reaction was far more boisterous and in Skydive's view, demeaning. He cracked up, laughing heartily.

"You're so tiny, mon!" He bent down and scooped the shrunken netherwing up. "Normally ya are way to big for me ta pick ya up like this."

Zalleen continued to snigger uncontrollably. "Ya are so cute."

"I ma not cute!" In his small size, the drake's voice came out as a squeak.

"Ya sound like a mouse!" Zalleen broke into a whole new fit of giggles.

Skydive dug his claws into the troll's finger. The mage's fingers loosened from the sharp prick, and the netherwing slipped out of his grasp. He scuttled across the floor toward Stormwing and Lastraza, who both lowered their heads close to the ground and peered at him.

"He can't stay like that," Emala stated flatly. "Zalleen, do you know how to fix him?"

"Sure, mon," Zalleen said between fading sniggers.

With that, the mage gingerly knelt and blew some if the green liquid into a fresh vial. Then he added some kind of power and blue substance and shook it. Then he poured it on Skydive.

There was a small poof. Skydive became slightly bigger. Then after a few more seconds, he got bigger again.

"Huh," Zalleen said. "Guess he'll be returning to normal size in the next ten minutes or so."

"I want to be bigger now!" Skydive yelped as the group began to trudge to the next door. His voice still sounded squeaky, causing Zalleen to roar with laughter again.

"What was dat, mon? A mouse?"

Skydive growled and flew after them.

**The whole thing with the frog potion was basically a attempt by me to add some humor to this story. Plus, I felt something needed to happen to bring the humor aspect of the group back up. Gotta love Emala's endearing language (note sarcasm)**

**Review, tell me how I did.**

**~dharak**


	7. Arcane and Chaos

**Disclaimer-I do not own World of Warcraft, Blizzard does. **

Within the course of the next few minutes, Skdive had returned to his actual size. His voice was now normal too, although Zalleen had decided he would never let the netherwing live the incident down.

Imyra's state had improved to a fair extent. She was now able to walk, although she still looked pale and tired. Even so, Emala took heart that she had more or less recovered. That made at least part of her day better.

In spite of the recent victories, the hunter didn't feel very safe. The underlying factor of the whole situation was the same-something wasn't right.

Now they seemed to be so far in that the Neferset hadn't even considered anyone getting this far. Or they themselves hadn't wanted to brave it.

A shiver ran down Emala's spine as she thought of that. Then there was a sound that made the leader instantly alert.

It was the noise of thunderous, rhythmic thudding. The footsteps of some massive creature, and it was coming toward them.

There was a rumbling shifting noise. A huge stone figure, thirty feet tall at least, came stomping down the corridor. And right behind him was a vaulted door, the hall before it lined with intimidating armed statues. They then became aware that four passages of different sizes were on either side of the group.

Emala braced herself, but neither she nor any of her companions were ready for what happened next. The stone giant stomped his foot once, and the ground trembled violently. Then a black line formed as the stone slit apart, the gap widening and continuing in their direction. On top of that, the ceiling began to crumble.

The thousands of pounds of stone rained down in sheets, dividing the group a few times over.

Emala swore vehemently, her thoughts drowned out by the collective rumbling and cracking of falling stone. Before she could even begin to think of forcing her way through the rubble with Skydive and Pierceclaw, the ground shifted under their feet. Suddenly all support vanished, and the hunter fell a few inches before Skydive grabbed her arm in one claw. Emala eyed the yawning darkness that had opened up under her hooves. Pierceclaw was hanging from the drake's other paw.

"Nice save," she muttered.

"Thank the gods for me, huh?" Skydive muttered. Another crack sounded and the ceiling began to split, showering rock dust on them. The netherwing yelped and bolted, holding his leader close to his chest as he did loops and barrel rolls, zipping between the falling stone. Emala could feel the drake's powerful heart pumping wildly from exertion and fear just between her shoulder blades.

Skydive barely cleared the last of the rock as it finally stopped falling. He performed a rough and tumble landing as a final rock wedge dropped down, just missing his tail.

For a few moments the two just laid there, panting, their frenzied minds taking the chance to calm down and see things rationally again.

The hunter was the first to make a recovery. Heaving a sigh, Emala felt a profound wave of worry. Standing, she roughly shoved Skydive's shoulder as the drake lay on his side. He grunted in response, but didn't get up.

"Move!" Emala snapped, glaring at her apparently lazy friend.

"In a minute," Skydive wheezed out. "Just gotta, not move...for a bit."

After taking a few deep breaths, the netherwing got to all four paws again. He shook his head and dazedly peered through the still settling dust. What he saw was nothing good. A solid wall of rock, broken masonry, and grit now had them holed up in what seemed to be a side chamber.

"Where'd that come from?" he mumbled. His mind was still half stunned, his thought process sluggish as a result.

"It could have been on the other side of the wall. Then that fuker out there did his little earthquake shit, and that made a gap we slipped through," Emala growled in response. Skydive swore he could see the anger radiating from her like heat rising from the surface of rocks in Durotar. "When I get back to that thing..."

"Okay, I got it," Skydive said hastily. "You're upset. Now what?"

The look she gave him almost made him sorry he had asked, and make him think he would be the target of the hunter's anger. Then she looked away with obvious disgruntlement. "Look for a way out, I guess," she sighed. "We don't have much of a choice."

Emala instantly deemed the prospect of forcing their way through the wall of rubble a stupid one. Skydive was forced to agree. He knew the hunter's judgment was sound, and that his instincts were telling him this was beyond his capabilities anyway.

After that, the search was back on, although it didn't last long. The two were able to locate a narrow tunnel, small enough to be a shaft. Skydive took on mortal form and he and Emala began to travel through it, hunching to avoid hitting their heads on the uneven roof. From Skydive's point of view, this was miserable and uncomfortable. He felt like the walls would close in on him as slight clusterphobia set in.

They finally saw the light at the end of the shaft, a light aqua blue shade that seemed highly tantalizing. They emerged into a large octagonal chamber and soon found the source. Blue crystals were inlaid in the ceiling, refracting the light in several directions. They felt as if they walked through a forest of blue, crisscrossing pillars.

Then the refracted light rays moved and shifted, creating one massive pillar of light. It began to form into the defined shape of a huge stone woman.

Isiset, as she was called, wasn't pleased. Her blue eyes sparked with the arcane energies she delved into as she turned in the companions direction. A low hum began to built-the sound of charging arcane energy.

Emala was the first to put two and two together. She jumped onto Skydive's back, yanking Pierceclaw with her"Get of the ground!" she shouted.

Skydive didn't need to be told twice. He had been ready to fly and get in his comfort zone since the giant lady had first appeared. He shot upward just as the ground lit up with a blanket of blinding white ice. The three guessed that whatever would have happened to them as they stayed put, they didn't want to know what it was.

Isiset's eyes burned. She placed her hands together and started firing arcane bolts at Skydive. The netherwing yelped and swerved, the sudden change of direction nearly throwing his passengers off. Emala gripped the drake's hard neck with her legs and drew her bow. She started firing explosive arrows at Isiset.

The projectiles set off a array of orange flares. The fire left blackened spots on the construct, but if she felt it she didn't show it. Instead she just loosed another bolt of power at them.

Skydive dove down and performed a loop, allowing the attack to miss him completely. Emala felt her stomach shift as the world flipped upside down and then rotated back to it's proper position again.

When Skydive was once again flying upright, Emala cast a glance behind them. She felt her heart stop when she saw they were being pursued.

Flying a few feet back, creatures made in a semblance to giant birds were flying. Every feather, and the eyes of the arcane birds, glowed blue with magic. Their wings left blue trails behind them as they swerved and banked, trying to get closer. On top of that, Isiset was firing at them again.

"Let me and Pierceclaw down," Emala shouted to Skydive. "We will deal with the construct. You handle the bird things."

Skydive nodded and dove. Emala and Pierceclaw jumped back to earth as the netheriwng grazed it. Then the drake was arching upward again.

He looked behind him and snarled. Those birds thought they were fast? Skydive would show them fast.

He put on a burst of speed, causing the arcane birds to fall farther behind. One screeched and released a bolt of magic, just missing Skydive's wing. He felt the searing heat and quickly swerved to avoid two more. As he did, he flipped so his back faced the ground and blew a stream of neon blue fire.

The attack hit one bird. It screeched, fanning it's wings as the drake's fire licked at it's arcane infused feathers. The other two birds avoided Skydive's quickly aimed attacks as he righted himself.

Skydive became aware of the rapidly approaching wall. He was about to turn when he came up with a excellent idea.

Instead of slowing down, Skydive sped up. The two arcane birds rose to the challenge, plunging after him with angry screeches.

Just inches from the wall, Skydive did a aerial flip and dove directly downward, grazing the wall. One of the arcane birds failed to stop in time. It slammed full speed into the wall and dispersed into nothing, while it's companion managed to slow down and dive after Skydive. The arcane bird that had caught on fire had by now batted the flames out. Still smoking, it flew at the netherwing with vengeance in it's eyes. Skydive tilted as the bird passed him, it's claws missing by a few inches as they raked at him in passing. He shot fire in return. The bird wailed as it once again caught alight and slammed into the same wall the other bird had. This one two dispersed into wisps of arcane, but with a tinge of smoke.

The remaining creature now had murder in it's eyes.

Down on the ground, Emala and Pierceclaw where now dealing with a whole host of new problems. Isiset would spray the area with arcane bolts, then fire one huge one. The sound of it imploding on the ground would ring in the ears of the raptor and the hunter, but that would prove not to be the worst problem.

At one point, Isiset seemed to become twice as enraged as she was prior to the start of the encounter. She yelled out a word of power, and a blinding flash was produced. Unprepared, Emala and Pierceclaw found their sight engulfed in white. They blinked wildly, but the effect didn't seem to go away.

Isiset took the chance in stride. The construct fired a beam of arcane magic at Emala. The hunter somehow avoided a direct hit, but the beam of magic still hit her right side. The tauren grunted as she hit the ground, her side burning.

_Of all the damn things that could happen, we had to be separated from our healer_, Emala thought, a surge of anger clearing her mind. She rolled to the right as the construct tried to blast her with magic again. Emala was back upright quickly enough, then saw that Isiset was starting to produce the blinding glow again.

Emala felt her eyes widen. "Pierceclaw, look away!"

The red raptor banished his surprise and turned his back on the construct, running to avoid attack. His master turned her back on Isiset as the bright flash that had previously blinded them was produced.

Much to her relief, Emala found that she could still see. With a shout of elated savagery she whirled and fired a explosive arrow directly into the forehead of the construct.

Her glowing blue eyes widened, seemingly in shock. Then the arrow blew up, scattering burnt shards of rock everywhere. The construct shimmered and crumbled, the pieces dispersing into whispers just before they would have hit the ground. Skydive was prepped to dive at the remaining arcane bird. He didn't get the chance as it evaporated into nothing with the fall of it's master.

Emala sucked in air, as she had been unconsciously holding her breath for a slight time from tension. "Well then. Shall we move on?"

* * *

><p>Atlanta wasn't happy, for many reasons.<p>

The first was that she was now alone with Stormwing and a weakened Imyra. The Death Knight wasn't totally convinced the storm drake wouldn't turn on them, even though he had fought side by side with them so far. If he did choose to attack, Atlanta knew she would be largely on her own. Imyra wasn't strong enough to help much. Furthermore, a impenetrable wall of rubble had removed any possibility of finding the others anytime soon.

Atlanta kept her fingers close to the hilt of her runeblade as she surveyed the darkened room they were in. The Death Knight thanked every deity she knew of that the passage put she was able to find was large enough to fit Stormwing. She had enough problems without trying to coax the storm drake into a mortal form.

"We move now," she said, her coarse voice low but seemingly loud in the silence. "Keep low. Keep quiet."

Imyra nodded mutely. Stormwing seemed to wince, although Atlanta couldn't be sure. The dim light made it hard to tell.

The three began to creep down the passage. It was all too easy for their timid minds to imagine traps, but surprisingly they ran across none. That, however, served to make them even more nervous than they were before. Their imaginations were still strongly at work, conjuring shadowy creatures and threatening noises.

Imyra stumbled a few times. At one point she nearly fell over, prompting Atlanta to snag her upper arm and hold her up. The druid gave the Death Knight a thankful smile, which Atlanta returned with a slight nod.

Atlanta peered ahead, eyes narrowing in a attempt to penetrate the gloom. She saw a faint, musty glow, defined by the sharp outline of the end of the tunnel.

_I'm starting to agree with Skydive about being underground, _Atlanta thought. _After this, I'm going to stay away from tunnels for a long time._

The three slowed down to the point of stalking as they approached the tunnel's end. A innate sense of menace poured from it, almost seeming to lock the companion's very bones in place. Even so, they steeled themselves and entered the chamber.

It was shaped in a rigid rectangular shape. Shafted panes of dinged purple glass were placed rhythmically on the walls. At the four corners of the area sat pitch black jackal statues, all about the size of a horse. The only visible color on them was the bright red of their eyes. Atlanta suspected these were rubies.

The light in the chamber was incredibly minimal, and a perpetual haze seemed to be hanging in the air. It almost seemed as if the companions were trying to see though a bank of fog.

From one of the dark shrouded corners, narrow red eyes flashed maniacally.

The jackal headed construct was Setesh, the Chaos embodiment. For the last countless eons, he had been aware of chaos sowing beyond his chamber-and yet he was oath bound to stay. He hadn't had any fun for a long, long time.

And now he was provided with it.

Setesh spoke a word of power, and the little light in the chamber went out. The purple glass panes became glaring spots in pitch black darkness, and yet illuminated nothing. The three companions were left scrambling in the dark, to the point where they had completely lost track of each other.

Stormwing and Atlanta were lucky in the first moments. The two ended up nearly running into each other, but managed to pull back from the would be collision. Atlanta groped outward with one hand, and after a moment laid it on Stormwing's thick shoulder.

"There you are," she sighed. Atlanta might not fully trust him, but at least he was showing no signs of going hostile yet. The Death Knight wasn't sure why, but the feel of the storm drake's warm scales was reassuring somehow.

Stormwing responded quietly, keeping his voice low. "Yeah, I'm here. Now, do you have a plan?"

Atlanta felt a dash of embarrassment. "No. I've never been a leader."

She could almost imagine Stormwing nodding. He seemed about to say something else when a series of growls sounded. The ruby eyes of the statues flared to life in the dark. The stone jackals began to advance, their red eyes bobbing in the dark as if disembodied.

Stormwing seemed to snap into a different gear, one he hadn't shown until now. "Find Imyra!" he ordered. "Help her. I'll distract them."

Atlanta was hardly aware that she obeyed the orders of the drake. Without thinking she obeyed the commanding tone, beginning to run through the darkness. Behind her she heard Stormwing roar and the harsh sound of him plowing into the stone statues. Then the storm drake breathed his lightning at his enemies.

The flare of illumination lit the snarling contorted face of the fourth jackal statue before Atlanta. The stone beast lunged. The Death Knight dropped to the ground and slid along the smooth rock floor. The creature slammed down behind her. Then she heard a exited yap, and a lion roar, loud but carrying traces of weakness. The dark engulfed the combatants again as Stormwing's lightning faded away.

A bolt of realization hit Atlanta. The roar was the one Imyra had in her cat form. Knowing the druid was in trouble, she stood and drew her runeblade. The faint glow of frost magic dimly lit the scene ahead of her.

Imyra had started to fight the stone jackal. She had shifted to a bear and torn some chunks out of her enemy, but the jackal just growled and swiped back. One of it's paws slammed into the side of Imyra's head. The sharpened rock claws tore some long gashes across the druid's cheek. She stumbled and then regained her footing, roaring a brave challenge.

The beast didn't get the chance to try and punish her for it. Atlanta brought her weapon down toward it's neck. The stone jackal managed to jerk away enough for the blade to miss and tear down it's foreleg instead. The tinge of frost spread, widening the already multiple cracks in the stone limb. The beast swiped at Atlanta with the frosted limb, but the Death Knight blocked it with a slash of her runeblade.

Imyra had taken the time to recover. She charged forward and slammed her heavy paws down on the stone jackal's leg.

The rock shattered. The stone beast lurched forward and awkwardly fell to the ground. It tried to bite Imyra as it ascended, but the druid had moved out of reach.

Atlanta took her runeblade in both hands and aimed the point directly down at the beast's neck. Putting all her anger behind the blow, she brought it down in the stone jackal's neck. The form of the creature grumbled into gray dust, the ruby eyes all that remained.

Atlanta blinked as something occurred to her. She hadn't felt any surge of feeling like that in a long time. Maybe she was starting to discover these feelings again? She shoved the thoughts to the back of her mind.

With the matter of one enemy dealt with, the two peered into the dark ahead of them where they could hear fighting. The pale glow of Atlanta's runeblade had been enough to fight the jackal, but it seemed far less useful for illuminating anything else.

Still, Atlanta was starting to respect Stormwing, even though she still didn't fully trust him. In the absence of Emala, he seemed to be an adept temporary leader. Besides, in this place they needed everyone they had.

Stormwing had so far been holding his own. He had already crushed one stone jackal, but the other two he was largely fighting in the dark. Even when he used his lightning, the two enemies seemed to have found a way to avoid the light and resume attacking him from the shadows.

One jackal leaped from the darkness and barreled into Stormwing's side. They hit the ground, the storm drake pinned below the living statue. It clawed and snapped at his head, which he tilted so that the blows raked of his metal helm.

Stormwing lodged a leg under the stone jackal and thrust upward. His kick removed the creature from atop him, but it didn't stop the second from biting his foreleg. He wrenched the limb out with a angry snarl and backhanded the beast under the jaw. The stone jackal's head snapped back, and Stormwing proceeded to hit it with a blast of lightning.

The stone beast howled and charged again. Stormwing braced himself, but the thing never reached him. Instead a flash of metal was seen, and the stone jackal was lying still. A deep gash was visible on it's crumbling chest as it fell away into nothing. The storm drake then whipped about and plunged a claw into the neck of the last statue. It exploded in a shower of gray.

With that, the three fighters positioned themselves back to back.

The initial plan was to stick together. As usual-that didn't happen...

**Shorter than usual, I know, but I was busy. That, and I'm nearing the conclusion of the story, so I need to think of some really good stuff. **

**Review, tell me how I did :D**

**~dharak**


	8. Choas and Life

**Disclaimer-I do not own World of Warcraft, Blizzard does.**

**Thx coincidencless for beta-ing this. :D**

**Enjoy everyone :)**

Imyra could feel her heartbeat speeding up as she heard eerie noises rising in a chaotic chorus around her. The sounds painted images of monsters and demons, creeping through the dark. Imyra took a step forward. Then she sensed that a huge distance had somehow opened up between her and the others. It was as if a foot had inexplicably doubled to twenty shadows seemed to get twice as dark. They seemed to swallow the remaining light like a hungry beast, leaving the three companions in blackness.

Her mind had barely processed the thought when the ground cracked under her. Instinctively Imyra shifted into a hawk. She flapped a few times to gain altitude, then peered down at the chasm that now lay below her. It glowed with a sickly purple energy that made Imyra want to cringe.

She heard a dissatisfied snarl. Then came incantations in a twisted, gravely voice that made Imyra's feathers shiver.

She dropped silently to the ground and shifted into a lion, hoping it would improve her sight in the darkness. It helped only slightly, allowing Imyra to make out blurred outlines.

Then one of the outlines moved. It was a good fifty feet tall at least, and seemed to have upright pointy ears like the jackal statues. From the faint smell of earthy rock, Imyra assumed the form was that of a construct. She felt the fur along her spine bristle and a growl rumble in her throat.

She couldn't make out any other features besides glowing purple orbs set in the construct's face. From the way they focused on her, Imyra could tell they were eyes.

Imyra began to slowly back away, going over her options with near blindness. The form before her glowed slightly purple around the edges, and seemed to float forward. She knew he was walking since the druid could hear the steps of stone feet, but other than that the construct seemed like a specter.

Setesh finally stopped advancing, but only when Imyra had stopped moving. She was standing still, pondering her next move. The construct raised a hand as if to wave, but instead swept his hand downward. A bolt of purple lightning shot down at Imyra. The energy seemed to shift from lightning to fire, then to shards of glass.

Imyra dashed aside, claws grasping at the stone floor. The attack left a smoking crater in the ground. A wave of heat rolled from it and seared Imyra, then suddenly turned icy cold.

Teeth bared in a feral grimace, Imyra shook newly formed ice crystals from her pelt. She tried to ignore the pain of her seared skin and narrowed her eyes. The tauren druid tried to peer through the dark for a sign of a friendly being.

As it turned out, she didn't have to look hard to find at least one of her friends. A bolt of blue lightning shot from twenty feet behind the construct. The lightning sharply outlined the jackal head on the otherwise human form as the construct blocked the bolt with his arm.

Imyra heard a battle cry from Atlanta, but it sounded very far away. The sound had most likely come from the other end of the chamber. The druid ran toward Stormwing, blood pounding in her ears and her muscles straining from her tired state. Her only thought was that she needed to get to him before she lost sight of the storm drake again.

Setesh attacked again, this time hurling a focused beam of his magic at Stormwing. Imyra leaped to the right of the beam and as Stormwing dodged, latching onto the linked lengths of chain around his neck that kept his armor in place.

"Good," Stormwing whispered. "Now we just need to find Atlanta-"

Setesh threw another bolt of magic, interrupting Stormwing. His storm drake target bounded away in the opposite direction, Imyra still on his back. Imyra twisted her neck and peered behind them. Her grip tightened on the drake's linked chains.

The glowing purple outline of Setesh was following again. Between his hands he was charging what looked like a miniature purple sun. In the light it cast, the druid was able to see the gleam of white stone teeth. She could imagine the construct grinning with sadistic glee at their expense.

The next thing she knew, Imyra was thrown from Stormwing's back as he collided with something with a huge thud. She twisted and landed braced on all four paws.

Unable to see reliably through the magically enhanced darkness, Stormwing had unknowingly run straight into one of the walls. He only had time to curse his stupidity in Draconic before Setesh released the magical energy he had been building up.

This time the attack hit Stormwing. He let out a pain filled keen as the chaos energy tore through him. His body sparked with flecks of purple as he slumped against the wall in a heap.

It had become a battle for him to stay conscious. The construct's strange magic seemed to have drained most of his energy away in a instant. Stormwing's sight was fading in and out, not that it had done him any good before getting hit. He could hear things still, but they were muddled and distant.

Imyra looked away from Stormwing's twitching form and bared her teeth. She growled low in her throat, hating the sight of the sturdy drake crippled in one blow and terribly injured. _We need Lastraza,_ she thought desperately. _But maybe I can at least do something in the meantime..._

She was just wondering what to do about keeping Setesh occupied when the problem was solved for her. A blast of icy wind and hail roared at him from the left. The construct's side was pelted and chipped by the shards.

Setesh turned and growled. He began to swipe his clawed hands at a faint tauren outline that dodged and wove, hacking at the construct. The faint glow of a runeblade wasn't needed for Imyra to tell who it was. She suspected Atlanta was relying on her hearing to maneuver and what slim optical information she could glean.

Imyra shifted to her tauren form. She felt drained already from the poison recovery and the amounts of shapeshifting she had been doing. Even so, she felt indebted to at least try and heal Stormwing partially.

She began to try and channel her nature magic to heal her fallen comrade. It was hard - Imyra had never been that good at the healing side of druid magic, and had chosen to invest in damaging spells and shapeshifting.

The soft green glow began to build around her hands. Imyra laid them gently on Stormwing's pine green flank. She tried to block out the harsh sounds of combat behind her and her own weariness.

The burn marks from the injury started to become less distinct. Stormwing twitched and let out a moan of relief. Imyra let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding.

Atlanta's attention wasn't focused on Imyra's predicament, but rather on her own. The construct she was fighting didn't seem capable of hiding his purple aura, even though it helped Atlanta dodge his strikes. Even so, in terms of magic he seemed to be getting stronger.

The Death Knight parried a lash from Setesh's clawed hand, only for the construct to kick her in the stomach.

Her plate armor deadened the force of the impact, but still sent her skittering backward on the rock floor. Her leg flared with pain as she twisted it at a bad angle. Her runeblade went spinning away even as she grabbed for it. The weapon clattered to the ground somewhere to her right.

Atlanta cursed. She could tell her leg was fine, even though it was still throbbing. But now she was without a weapon. The Death Knight leaped sideways as Setesh launched another bolt of magic.

Ignoring the slight pulse of pain in her leg, Atlanta dodged another attempt by the construct to nail her. Her mind was working full force. She knew she needed her runeblade back, but the problem of finding it remained. She started to try and get the weapon within her sights. Atlanta cursed heartily as the darkness proved as impenetrable as ever. Setesh's magically enhanced darkness seemed to cloak the runeblade's usual faint glow.

Setesh didn't give her time to mope over the current circumstances. He slammed a fist into the ground, and jagged lines of red snaked like lightning bolts across the stone floor. They raced in Atlanta's direction, and she took of running to avoid them. One raced directly in front of her. She jumped it and barely avoided incineration as the lines flared red with unstable energy. The aftermath was a huge new series of scars in the ground.

In the brief flash of illumination provided, Atlanta saw the gleam of metal. She lunged for it, and her hand closed on the familiar hilt of her blade just as all became dark again. The blade began to glow once more.

She heard the whistle of a approaching blow and sidestepped, swinging her runeblade. It made contact, causing Setesh to howl. His clawed finger tore three inch gashes in the rocky floor.

"You toy with my patience!" the construct finally said the first coherent words, making it the first time he had actually talked during the whole encounter. "Mortals are not permitted to witness the secrets of immortals. You will die!"

He loosed a beam of chaos magic at Atlanta. She dodged and jumped, then brought her runeblade whistling down in a cleaving motion. It would have punctured Setesh's chest, but his purple aura flared and the blade was deflected of a shield of purple light. The barrier faded and the chaos construct attacked once more.

This time he landed a blow that made Atlanta see stars, even with her helm deadening the impact. She stumbled back and the nefarious construct struck her across the face. The Death Knight leaped back to avoid another strike.

Nearby, Stormwing regained consciousness and instantly felt a surge of protectiveness. He stood despite Imyra's startled protest. Then he turned his head in Setesh's direction and hissed. The drake launched himself at the chaos construct.

He slammed into his target's back, and the force sent them both to the ground. Setesh howled with fury and tried to grasp Stormwing's neck, only to be met with a blast of lightning straight at the face. The two continued to writhe and scuffle. Both Imyra and Atlanta were starting to think that Stormwing could win even in his weakened state.

Then Setesh ruined the prospect. He sent a bolt of purple energy at his foe. Frightened of being shocked unconscious again, Stormwing fell back. The construct took the chance to ram his fist into the drake's chest.

Stormwing was sent airborne, but managed to lessen the impact he took from the landing by managing to spread his wings and glide. He landed roughly and began to get his footing back. Even so, he was momentarily incapacitated, and that was all Setesh wanted.

The construct raised a fist to strike. Before he got the chance, a streak of orange flame shot directly between his shoulder blades. The projectile exploded, blowing a hole in the construct's chest.

Setesh froze, the jackal face twisted in a vintage of shock and horror. Then the construct howled one last cry, and his form stopped glowing. As it crumbled, light returned, slowly returning to the foggy gray it had been before the fight.

Emala stood behind the crumbled gray pile that had been the construct. Skydive was next to her, peering about in curiosity. At first her face looked cold and detached as she stared at the remains of what she had just killed. Then she looked up, and the hunter proceeded to stalk over to them. As much as Emala tried to hide it, a expression of vast relief had spread over her face. Skydive gave a overjoyed cry and ran forward, nuzzling Imyra and Atlanta in turn.

"You're alive," she said, the blunt sentence a wonderful thing to hear. It reminded them that they weren't alone. It also brought back a sense of familiarity.

Stormwing nodded dazedly. "Yeah," he muttered, blinking. "Alive..."

Emala cast a confused look at him, then directed it at Atlanta and Imyra. "What's with him?"

"He got injured badly," Imyra replied awkwardly. "I did my best to fix him, but I think we need Lastraza to get him back to full health."

Stormwing unintentionally emphasized her point by slumping to the ground, out cold once again. He mumbled incoherently under his breath.

Emala sighed. "Better find them, then. Skydive, help Atlanta pick Stormwing up. You're carrying him until he can walk again."

Skydive groaned. "Do I have to? He must weigh three times as much as I do."

"Just do it," Emala snapped. "You have a better ability to carry him than the rest of us, that's for sure."

The netherwing drake groaned again, but this time did as he was told. He shoved his shoulder under Stormwing's and with Atlanta's help, he got the storm drake's chest resting between his shoulders. Both Stormwing's forelegs dangled down on either side of Skydive's neck.

The companions set off again, Skydive doing his best to complain with the limited amount of breath he could spare from holding so much weight up.

* * *

><p>Zalleen wasn't particularly enjoying this. But he didn't altogether dislike it either.<p>

Sure, it was a slightly twisted outlook, considering that they were separated and lost. But he also welcomed the chance to get some exploring of his own done.

Well, mostly on his own...

He did have some company. Lastraza.

The red drake padded along behind him, uncertainly peering about their decimated surroundings. She seemed very tense, very anxious, and not at all talkative.

Since it was obvious neither she or Zalleen had any idea were they were going, the mage had decided he might as well lead. He had figured that eventually they would find their way out of here. If thoughts of getting trapped down here forever intruded, he didn't show it.

Zalleen narrowed his eyes and placed a hand by his brow as if shading them from the sun. He could see something ahead. It was a soft green light, like the kind that would filter through a forest canopy.

"Chamber ahead, mon," he said, making sure Lastraza could hear him. "Wonder what's there?"

"It won't be good, we can bet on that," Lastraza growled in discontent. "Nothing's been good since we came in here."

"Sadly," Zalleen muttered. He cast a long, brooding look back into the shadows of the shaft they were in. He imagined his heated glare incinerating the wall of rubble that had originally separated them from their friends. He very much wished he could actually do that to destroy it, but that was pretty much impossible.

Lastraza muttered consent. They had intended to be stealthy, but the green light mesmerized them. It reminded the troll of his lush island home, and the red drake of the infinite purpose of her flight.

They emerged into a cavern, carved roughly from rock. Towering greenery loomed at about the perimeter, their roots making a meshed brown pattern across a cool gray slate floor. The source of the green light didn't seem to be distinguishable.

Neither of them were aware of the danger until Lastraza felt something brush against her paw. She looked down and recoiled, hissing. Zalleen looked down and yelped.

A vine was there, spiked and a dark mottled green, almost like reptile skin. Lastraza sprayed it with fire and the thing withered into a black husk, smoking.

The illusion of peace was shattered. Both Lastraza and Zalleen became aware of the ominous force that had hung over the entire chamber the whole time, but had gone undetected in their transfixed state.

All traces of humor vanished from Zalleen as he went into battle mode. He and Lastraza stood close together, warily peering about.

A ram - headed form caught Zalleen's attention, surrounded by towering ferns in a corner. The eyes glinted a bright green, lines of the same color snaking across him in swirling patterns. Ammunae took one step forward, the life construct allowing a wooden staff laden with ivy to materialize in hand.

Zalleen could imagine his eyes flashing as he charged his hands with arcane magic. He heard Lastraza hiss again, and the noise of her tail club scratching the floor.

Ammunae seemed to give them a look of undisguised disgust. Then he tapped his wooden staff sharply on the ground three times.

For a moment, the only thing produced was dead silence. Zalleen was well prepared to begin raining spells on the construct when the shriveled and burned vine twitched. The mage blinked and looked down at the same instant that a wave of nature magic seemed to wash across the entire chamber.

Lastraza gasped in alarm. "Nature magic," she said uneasily. "But not aimed at us."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Zalleen asked weakly. Lastraza shook her head.

"Not in this case."

The burned vine's color flooded back. It grew dagger like thorns and lashed out like a whip. Lastraza craned her head out of the way and lashed out with a paw. Her black claws tore the spiky limb in half.

The stone floor began to crack. More vines snaked out, coiling around Lastraza's legs. She growled as the sharp barbs tried to pierce her red scales. The drake released fire from her open jaws.

Zalleen yelped and teleported just when a vine would have crushed his midsection. He blinked back into the world close to Ammunae. Before the construct could fully turn to face him, Zalleen hurled a fire spell at him.

The flames hit Ammunae on the side. They faded and left black marks, but he seemed only slightly irritated. The mage tried again with a frostbolt aimed at Ammunae's head, but he just raised a arm and deflected it. The life construct raised his huge staff and swung it. Zalleen ducked and the swing sailed just over his head. Ammunae swung again, this time nearly taking the mage's head off. He sidestepped and cast a spell just as the staff grazed the floor.

Instantly the staff was frozen in a pillar of ice. Ammunae seemed to growl. He yanked and the staff came free, scattering ice crystals.

Zalleen cursed. He had been hoping to entrap the construct's staff longer than that. Obviously that plan wasn't going to work out.

Lastraza was having her own troubles. She had become entangled in a mass of vines that were steadily tightening. The vines were beginning to put painful pressure on Lastraza's ribcage. Clearly their intention was to crush her alive, but the red drake wasn't ready to go to the spirit world yet. During the first minute of Zalleen's confrontation with Ammunae, she had been struggling to get free. She had managed at least partial success in the last few seconds. Now all that remained entrapped was her tail and haunches. She tore at them with her claws, ignoring the wild pounding of her heart and the bleeding cuts from making contact with the barbed vines. Then she burned the hostile vegetation and spread her wings, ascending swiftly. Lastraza then circled close to the ceiling.

The attacking plant growth was momentarily confused. The tips of the vines waved about like feelers, probing the air.

Lastraza took in a deep intake of air, prepping to set the vines alight. Then a sharp pain exploded in her wing. She felt blood begin to flow and gravity begin to yank at her. The red drake quickly cast a healing spell on the membrane of her wing and looked in the direction of the attack.

"Fuck it." Lastraza added a Draconic curse for good measure. The vines had crawled up the ceiling and were now ascending on her. She had time to see one with bards stained with fresh blood before Lastraza dove, hovering midway between both the ground and the ceiling.

She was at an unhealthy stalemate. The only free area seemed to be were Ammunae and Zalleen were fighting, and even that was pitifully small.

Lastraza twisted her neck and breathed fire at two vines that had tried to snare her from behind. They shriveled and she surveyed for more attacks even as she started to think. Lastraza's eyes wandered until they latched onto something.

The vines all sprouted form one specific area-a spot of the ground were the rock was cracked, showing distinct red and green. After a few seconds of further inspection, Lastraza verified that this was most likely the source of the vines.

_Of course! _Lastraza thought. _These vines would have a taproot. Kill off the taproot..._

The red drake dove downward, aiming at the cracks. She had never possessed Skydive's flying skill, so instead she chose a straight path and burned any vines that got in her way.

Lastraza made it to the series of large cracks and dug her claws under the edges. The muscles in her hind legs and back strained as she heaved upward. The fractured stone loosened slightly, but Lastraza knew she couldn't property burn the taproot unless it was uncovered more. The red drake was forced to pause and swipe at an attacking vine, then burn others.

Zalleen avoided another attempt by Ammunae to stomp him. He couldn't tell from the construct's ram face if he was annoyed or not, but from the way his markings were glowing the troll could guess his enemy wasn't happy. Ammunae had managed to clip him on the side with his staff. He had avoided the worst of the blow, but his entire side hurt like an ogre had trampled him. Still, Zalleen could imagine what he would be like if he had taken a direct hit. It was very likely the mage would be a messy multicolored splotch on the floor.

He banished the grotesque image quickly. Zalleen blinked away in a flash of light, avoiding a hit that would have ended his existence as a living being. Ammunae looked about in confusion.

Another flash heralded Zalleen's reappearance in the last place the construct expected - directly in the air in front of his face. The mage launched a frostbolt and blinked away again as he started to fall.

The spell hit accurately. The ram headed construct bellowed and reared backwards. He shook his head and swept a hand across his face, frost still lingering from the spell.

"Take that, fucker!" Zalleen shouted from several feet away. He slapped one of his kneecaps and laughed hysterically.

Ammunae stared down at him with what the mage felt he could identify as loathing. Zalleen went abruptly silent and raised his staff, obviously aware that the construct was truly angry now.

Zalleen's enemy twirled his staff and then brought it down with a huge, echoing slam on the rock ground. A wave of force exploded outward. Unprepared, Zalleen was sent flying backward. He felt his back collide against unyielding rock and heard the harsh rustle of fern leaves. He tumbled to the ground amidst a mess of bent stems. Aware of the vines creeping up on him, Zalleen froze the ground around him into a miniature arctic plain, and the plants balked as if the frost were poison. Ammunae then charged forward, his heavy steps shaking the ground. He lowered his staff like a battering ram.

Lucky for him, Zalleen caught on to the implications. His eyes went wide and he teleported behind Ammunae as the construct's staff slammed into the wall, going in at least five feet. The rock cracked widely in a spiderweb pattern. The hit was right were Zalleen's chest had been a moment ago.

The troll mage gulped. Things were really starting to look bad for him.

The construct turned toward him again and raised his staff. Figuring he was going to do the magic force wave again, Zalleen braced himself. He slipped a alchemy vial from his pocket and quickly drank the potion. He felt extra mana flood into his body.

Looking back on it, he wasn't sure exactly what he had been thinking. Zalleen knew that a construct's magic would certainly crush his own abilities, even with a potion helping. And yet here he was, preparing to try and do something that most spellcasters would consider a act of total and devastating idiocy.

Ammunae brought his staff down. It impacted, and the shockwave rolled out.

Zalleen took a deep breath and took a stance as if he was going to cast a spell. He imagined the force wave as a actual ocean wave. Then he imagined holding the water back with his magic.

The wave of magic rushed at him. Steeling his resolve, Zalleen held out his hands. The mental effect of holding back the construct's magic came first. The mage later compared it to a heavy blow on the head, but instead of his head, it was his mental barriers that took the hit.

To Zalleen's great surprise, he wasn't instantly fried to a crisp. Instead he felt the construct's magic ram into his hands like a mass of rushing earth shaken loose in a earthquake. He braced his feet against the floor and leaned forward, imagining that he was pushing. Zalleen asserted all his will against that of his opponent. He imaged bottling up Ammunae's magic, and allowing it to build.

Lastraza was still preoccupied with the cracks in the ground. She had pried up enough of the rock to get to the taproot, but the vines had caught on to her plan. They were attacking the red drake more viciously than ever. It was only thanks to Lastraza's healing magic and her fire that she still stood. She decimated another attacking vine and then gave one last mighty heave.

Finally the last of the rock was thrown aside. Panting, Lastraza stared at the monstrosity she had uncovered.

The vine was mottled green and brown, and as thick as the trunk of a mature tree. It was sunk halfway into the earth, coiled like a snake. The smaller vines sprouted from it in various places, like hideous tentacles. Lastraza felt a sick lurch in her gut when the taproot pulsed as if it actually was a reptile that had just swallowed it's most recent meal.

Then she let out a screech of horror as the root reared up, showering dirt. Before she could react, the thing lunged at her and Lastraza was in blackness.

It took a moment to process what had happened. But from the slimy, rounded conditions pressing against her on all sides, the red drake concluded that she had most likely been swallowed. By a root.

It was never a experience she wanted to repeat. Even though it made an entertaining story at dinner.

Lastraza shivered as the plant ooze trickled down her spine. Then she began to fight and claw even as she slid lower. She kicked wildly with her hind legs, trying to slow her slide down the vine's throat. Her claws dug into the vine's slimy flesh, but the gashes they were making were too shallow. Lastraza knew she wouldn't get out before meeting a untimely death by whatever digestive system a mutated vine had if she continued using this method. Either that, or she would suffocate. She doubted fire would be any good in such damp conditions.

That left her magic. Lastraza felt a smile worm onto her jaws. She summoned her healing power, then twisted the spells into a damaging force. She hardly ever did and was unpracticed, but since the vine screeched in pain, it was obvious it had worked well enough. The spell made the innards of the vine flash blue and green by turns. The thing writhed and thrashed crazily, causing the red drake to feel slightly disoriented. With a mighty roar Lastraza repeated the process, this time focusing it on the wall of vine flesh that barred her from freedom.

The plant matter imploded in a impressive spray of plant membrane and ooze. Lastraza came tumbling out, covered in the substance from head to tail. Turning, she breathed the hottest jet of flame she could into the hole she had just made.

The master vine went up in a pillar of fire. It slowly crumbled to black ash, and all around the chamber the offspring vines followed suit.

Panting from the disturbing and gross experience, Lastraza shook the slime off of her in disgust. She then frantically looked about for Zalleen, hoping she wouldn't' find his crushed body anywhere.

Her yellow eyes went wide what she saw Zalleen and Ammunae locked in a struggle of power. The space between them was filled with undalating threads of misty blue and purple. Zalleen seemed to be holding back and shaping the construct's magic while Ammunae tried to retaliate against the mage. Lastraza took a hesitant step forward. Then she stopped. She could tell from the harrowed look on Zalleen's face that to interrupt his focus would mean the end for him.

At this point Zalleen had largely achieved what he wanted. He mentally crafted the magic into a concentrated force. Then he materialized it as a bright beam of blinding white arcane that seemed to suck up all other magic around it. The newly formed attack flew straight at Ammunae's chest, going directly through and out.

Ammunae's form lit up like a tree struck by lightning. His body froze, then crumbled into gray dust. Zalleen collapsed onto his hands and knees, shoulders hunched. Instantly Lastraza, who had been watching the process with a dazed fascination, went into motherly mode. She dashed across the space between them in a flash. Bending down on her hind legs, Lastraza peered into Zalleen's slate gray eyes. Shadowed by his ragged red bangs, most didn't pay his eye color attention. If they did, most would be fairly intrigued. Gray was a rare eye color among trolls. Currently a listless, tired look floated in them. He gazed at Lastraza as if he didn't recognize her.

"Zalleen?" Lastraza asked firmly. "Are you okay? Do you feel injured? Are you-"

The mage heaved himself to his knees and raised a hand. His smile was already worming back onto his lips, although his expression seemed slightly afraid. "Glad you're concerned, mon, but my ears are currently ringing like the deepest caves in Deepholm." He arched his back and moaned. "Argh. I'm never doing anything like dat again."

Lastraza sighed in relief and nodded. She wondered briefly about the trace of fear she had seen, but looking back at Zalleen, she couldn't find any trace of it now. The red drake cast a healing spell on her friend, hoping to relieve whatever pain he felt. Zalleen sighed in relief when the magic did its work.

"I saw that trick you pulled with the construct," Lastraza said with slight admiration. "I still can't believe you pulled that off."

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Zalleen felt he should have been incinerated or gone insane. There were two possibilities he could think of. One was that he had gotten lucky. The other reason was much more frightening but more possible. That he might actually have the kind of magic that could combat a creation of the Titans inside him, and that he could have well lost control of it.

_Nah, _he thought, trying to convince himself. _It was that potion I took. It had to be._

He still didn't feel entirely convinced.

Lastraza looked at him strangely, wondering why he had remained so silent. She decided it was his exhaustion and shrugged. Then she heard voices, coming from the tunnel they had used before the fight. They were the voices of her friends.

"It's the others!" Lastraza shouted joyfully.

Zalleen grinned widely, all previous shadows gone from his thoughts for the time being. He had been afraid it had been more enemies that Lastraza had heard. He bent and picked up his staff, wincing slightly as he straightened his spine again. He hadn't let Lastraza know, but her spell had only deadened the pain momentarily. He hurt all over at the moment. It seemed to be fading, possibly since his body was now able to recover from the ordeal he had just faced.

A glint caught Zalleen's eye, coming from the pile of crumbled gray dust that had been Ammunae. Beckoned by it, the mage walked over and knelt by the dust. Sweeping it aside with one hand, he picked up the object revealed and stared at it in obvious confusion.

The object was a small green statue that fit in the palm of his hand. It looked very much like Ammunae, but that wasn't what had captured Zalleen's attention. Rather, it was the power the statue seemed to contain. Somehow feeling it could be crucial, Zalleen slipped the figure into his backpack. Then he returned to Lastraza's side, eagerly peering into the tunnel in search of his other friends.

Emala came out first, followed closely by Pierceclaw. Skydive came after them, grumbling and huffing under the weight of Stormwing, who was starting to stir but was still largely unconscious. Imyra and Atlanta came after Skydive.

Atlanta cast a cool glance around the chamber. Imyra smiled happily and waved Zalleen and Lastraza. "There you are! We've been looking everywhere for you."

"And there you are," Zalleen responded cheerfully. "All back together again, huh?"

Lastraza returned Imyra's greeting hastily, as she had already zeroed in on Stormwing. Hurrying forward, her eyes widened with concern when she saw his injury. "Put him down," she told Skydive. "Gently!"

Skydive nodded. Groaning, he eased Stormwing off his back and then sat back on his haunches. "Never again," he said vehemently. "Never again am I carrying him. I swear, his weight nearly broke my spine."

"Stop exaggerating," Emala snapped back. "He's only somewhat larger than you."

"Incorrect!" Skydive shot back.

Zalleen smiled to himself.

**I'm starting to make drawings of the characters on my Deviantart account. One's a black and white drawing of Emala and Pierceclaw. A upcoming one is a painting of Stormwing (name on Deviantart is Origa600 there, if anyone wants to check them out. They're in the World of Warcraft folder in my gallery. Or in this case, will be.)**

**As always, I would appreciate reviews to tell me how I did :D**

**~dharak**


	9. fiery battleground

**Disclaimer-World of Warcraft is not mine. It is property of Blizzard Entertainment. **

Once Stormwing was back on his feet, the companions fell into a slightly jovial state. They still weren't fully comfortable, knowing that danger could still be liable to jump on them. Zalleen and Skydive began to joke comfortably, while Lastraza continually prodded at Stormwing with her nose as she walked, as if there could still be something wrong with him. The storm drake grumbled in response.

Emala and Atlanta walked toward the front of the group. For the first few minutes of traveling they were silent, listening to the continual mutterings behind them. Then the Death Knight chose to break the silence. It was a rather startling action for Emala's normally mute friend. As such, the words Atlanta spoke took a moment to register in her mind.

"Stormwing doesn't seem that much of a stranger anymore."

The hunter tossed some of her braided black hair over her shoulder. "Yeah, I've noticed," she answered flatly. "Kinda wondered about it myself. I'm not sure what to think of him."

It was a very truthful statement. Emala found that her distrust of Stormwing had been fading substantially, despite her attempts to maintain it so she wouldn't drop her guard too much. But the storm drake's recent acts had enforced her willingness to trust him even more.

"Any ideas on the Ultimate One?" Atlanta murmured. Monetarily thrown into a loop from the abrupt change of subject, the hunter took a few seconds to think of a response.

"A few, none of which I think are good," Emala responded absentmindedly. "Not the Titans, certainly not the Old Gods. They'd never give the Titans anything. Nothing demon related either...maybe this being isn't even known to our lore at all."

"Perhaps not," Atlanta said quietly. "But then we have no idea what we could potentially be dealing with."

Emala cast a sharp glance at her, as if demanding answer. But the Death Knight had gone silent, and the hunter knew she wouldn't get any more words out if her until Atlanta saw it fit. What disturbed her more was the notion of which side the Ultimate One would be on, if it got involved at all.

Nonetheless, Emala was glad to have voiced her thoughts to someone. She felt that now her mind had been cleared of lingering distractions.

A harsh flare of light shone from the end of the passage they were in. Emala couldn't help but jump. Her longbow was up in a instant, primed to shoot. She waited a instant, but neither heard or saw anything else.

"Stay back!" she snapped when Zalleen tried to push past her. "We're not just going to barge in there in a senseless rabble."

Zalleen sighed in disappointment. "I like rabble."

"There's something wrong with you," Skydive snickered.

"Hey!" Zalleen responded with a tone of false hurt. "I'm sane compared to you."

"Shut up!" Stormwing growled out just as another flare lit the tunnel from ahead. "Who knows what's up there."

It may have been common sense or the dark tone of the storm drake's voice, but the two friends became instantly quiet. Silently thanking Stormwing, Emala crept forward with painstaking care. She cursed when she saw what was in the chamber.

"Wonderful," she griped. "Another construct. Can't we ever get a break?"

It was, indeed, another construct. This one was laden with golden armor and bore a head like that of a gold hawk. Ruby eyes glared form under a sun disk crown that flashed a brilliant yellow. He was standing amid a miniature volcanic wasteland. The ground was cracked like that of a riverbed, and sulfurous orange glowed through them. Smoldering craters lay in a haphazard ring around him, randomly erupting in columns of searing flame. These were clearly the sources of the noises the companions had heard earlier.

Emala growled quietly. _Of course we can't just go through the __**easy**__ way, _she thought sarcastically. The construct enforced this view by settling itself even more firmly in the center of the chamber.

"Damn you," she muttered at the construct with pure spite, even though he couldn't hear her. With that, the hunter went back to the others, choosing to abandon stealth as it didn't seem necessary.

Unknown to Emala, Rajh was already predicting the group's arrival. Having sensed the defeat of the other guardians, he had awakened and worked fast to set up his battleground the way he wanted it. It didn't take much wisdom to know he was next.

Rajh's eyes narrowed in anticipation.

* * *

><p>Emala soon made it back to the others. She was now very temperamental and frustrated, the walk having done nothing to calm her temper.<p>

"We're in for hell," she said before anyone could say a word. Her voice dripped with a obvious venom. It made Skydive visibly wince. Stormwing and Imyra both sighed despondently, remembering the near disaster with Setesh. Lastraza narrowed her yellow eyes in thought. Zalleen shuddered as he remembered Ammunae, then voiced the complaint aloud. "Haven't we gone through hell already?"

"Apparently fate doesn't want _anything_ to be easy," Emala growled irritably. "Maybe we'll know peace after this for at least a few days."

Her voice gained a sarcastic tone with the last few words. It couldn't be more obvious that she didn't expect this to happen.

"Anyway," Lastraza murmured, "Any plan?"

Emala's face morphed into a pondering stare. "The plan...,yes, it's time for a plan."

* * *

><p>The plan was set in motion by Skydive and Stormwing. The two drakes took to the air and flew at breakneck speeds past Rajh, on on either side. The huge construct was forced to turn around to keep them in view. He screeched, shaking the room, and raised his hands. Skydive shot a stream of fire at him, while Stormwing let loose a bolt of lightning. Both attacks hit Rajh's arm as he raised it to block them.<p>

Momentarily preoccupied and blinded, Rajh never saw the second assault come his way. Arcane infused arrows, fire and a barrage of frostbolts rained onto his back and shoulders. This prompted a low growl of pain and annoyance form Rajh.

Sadly, the organized assault didn't hold him forever. Rajh reached out his hand and swiped at the drakes. Skydive evaded the blow, but Rajh's hand closed around Stormwing's tail. He yanked the storm drake down, causing Stormwing to land roughly on his shoulder. Skydive dove down and raked at Rajh's upper arm, and the construct let go with a startled cry. The netherwing darted away before he could get struck.

The construct growled in annoyance and turned his attention to Stormwing. He loomed over his target, eyes glowing a molten orange. Rajh raised his fists and brought them down. Thankfully Stormwing was able to react in time to roll aside. Then he launched himself into the air., just avoiding incineration from the firestorm that had erupted where he had been.

Rajh would have gone for a second attack on the two dragonkin, but his attention was caught by a spray of arrows from Emala. He turned around and swiped at the hunter. She leaped aside, dodged a pillar of flame from a crater, and then stopped in a firing stance. She repeated her earlier move, this time aiming at Rajh's head.

The arcane shots hit the construct on the side of the head. He screeched and a focused stream of fire blazed from his spread hands.

Emala evaded the attack, but it still stirred up a cloud of sulfurous ash and grit. The hunter coughed into the crook of her arm, trying to clear her lungs. She used the brief cover to gain some distance.

She succeeded and Emala aimed another shot. Rajh swiftly sidestepped, causing the arrows to miss by a inch. Emala gritted her teeth and cursed as the construct stomped toward her, tendrils of flame trailing in his wake.

Rajh was stopped by the sudden appearance of Imyra on his head. The druid was in her bear form, clawing and and raking at his stone skin. He tried to shake her off. He managed to achieve this, only for Imyra to dig her claws into his shoulders as she slid down them. Somehow the druid managed to stay latched on as Rajh thrashed, trying to dispose of her.

Stormwing charged forward and rammed his shoulder into the construct's leg from behind. The force was unexpected enough to make Rajh stumble. Stormwing then slid his head under the construct's raised foot and shoved upward.

Rajh fell forward and crashed face first onto the volcanic ground, Imyra still clinging unharmed to his back. She flew away in her bird form as he rolled into a sitting position and slowly stood, batting attacks aside as he did so. Zalleen teleported behind him and fired a barrage of arcane missiles at Rajh. The spell hit home, and the mage was forced to teleport again when his enemy nearly stomped on him. A shield of flame flickered up just as Stormwing and Atlanta lunged at him. The storm drake and the Death Knight rammed into the barrier, and both cursed with feeling when it not only repelled them but burned them.

Lastraza, spotting the burns the two now sported, healed them. Then she gazed in all directions, trying to get a sense of where the rest of her scattered friends were.

The entire group had ended up in a haphazard, loose ring around Rajh. Stormwing and Atlanta had backed away, caution in their eyes. Emala was standing in a slight crouch off to their far right, her bow notched. Skydive was circling above the entire scene, warily watching Rajh as his shield of flame started to die down. Zalleen raised his hands, ready to cast a spell.

The flame shield flickered and vanished. At the same instant the construct lunged forward, and Stormwing tried to become airborne when he saw Rajh coming at him. The construct struck back with a solid upward swing.

There was a nasty crack as Rajh's fist slammed into Stormwing's ribs. He roared as he was flung upward, then started falling back to earth. With the determination of a experienced fighter he forced himself to ignore the stinging in his ribs. Stormwing flared his wings and avoided a crash. He felt the pain lessen as Lastraza's healing magic flowed through him.

Stormwing banked right as Rajh tossed a fireball in his direction. The storm drake struck back by releasing a bolt of lightning. The blue electricity was aimed at the construct's head, but Rajh moved at the last second. The bolt hit him on the shoulder, and the construct let out a high screech of anger as the lightning arched up and down his golden armor.

The construct didn't remain dazed for long. He raised his arms, and a ring of fire was summoned around him. The companions were forced to leap backwards to avoid getting burned.

Skydive plunged down from above and opened his maw. A stream of blue fire shot forth, hitting Rajh in the chest. The construct ignored the blue flames and instead started to swat at the nethering as he flitted around the construct's huge body like a small bird, occasionally clawing at him.

Emala had climbed onto a rock protrusion in the volcanic environment. Now she was aiming her bow, trying to find a good spot to shoot. She had to keep in mind that she couldn't hit Skydive, and so resolved that the best place to shoot would be a very vulnerable spot.

The arcane shot whizzed through the air. The projectile hit were Emala had hoped, directly in the construct's eye.

Rajh screeched, but only faltered slightly in his attacks when the vision in his right eye flickered and died. Zalleen tried again with a frostbolt spell, this time hitting the construct successfully in the back of the leg. He stumbled slightly, then turned and launched a blast of fire at the mage. He yelped and vanished in a flash, then reappeared on Rajh's right.

Before the construct could resume his tangent of fire, Emala fired a arcane shot at him. The projectile hit Rajh on his blind side, in the arm. He screeched and tried to tear it out, but only ended up snapping the shaft. Enraged, he turned on the hunter and breathed a stream of fire from his open beak.

Emala turned and ran across the cracked ground, the hot air wafting past her. She jumped across a large boiling crack, then dodged another attack by the construct. In her haste, however, the hunter tripped on the edge of a crater and felt herself falling forward.

She regained a fragile balance just in time. For a tenuous second she stared mesmerized into the boiling mass of magma she had nearly fallen into. Then Emala agilely sprang backward as the crater erupted into a pillar of flame. She turned in time to see Rajh's foot rapidly approaching. Before Emala could react, she was kicked over the edge of the crater and falling toward the volatile substance below. She felt heat on her back and heard the rumbling of building flame.

The hunter was just starting to accept the idea of death when something blue came shooting down from above. Emala felt Skydive's wiry back make contact with her and instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck. The netherwing skillfully began to fly in a upward slant, and then cleared the edge of the crater, shooting between Rajh's legs. As he turned to follow them Imyra lunged at him in her bird from. She shifted into a bear just as she neared Rajh's face.

Imyra crashed into the construct's bird head and dug her claws into his uninjured eye with a savage roar. The construct screeched in fury, now completely blinded. He swatted at Imyra and she jumped back down to the volcanic ground, but missed by a wide margin.

Stormwing didn't let a perfect opportunity slip by. With a bellowing roar he crouched and sprang forward, his front claws spread wide.

With a ugly cracking he plunged his brown claws into the construct's rock body. He raked downward with all his strength. Thinking fast, he breathed a bolt of lightning into the cracks he had opened. The electricity sparked and crackled throughout the massive body, and Rajh's entire form glowed blue. Then he grumbled to gray dust as his kin had, Stormwing emerging coughing from the cloud of gray dust that had been stirred up.

"That worked out well," he said with as much a smile as he could manage.

**Great apologies for my lateness, and how short and hasty this chap probably seems. Life had me busy, but next update should be on time on much longer.  
><strong>

**Review please, tell me how i did.  
><strong>

**~dharak**


	10. The final gaurdian

**Disclaimer-I do not own World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment does. **

Zalleen chortled at Stormwing as he clambered up out of the gray dust. The storm drake wiped at his nose with a paw. Shooting a irritated glance at the mage, he shoved him with his shoulder. Zalleen yelped and tripped over the hem of his robe, falling into the rock dust. Stormwing laughed and was soon followed by Skydive and Imyra. Lastraza shook her head like she was watching rambunctious children, while Atlanta maintained a frosty exterior. Emala just sighed and rubbed her side.

She was glad that the others weren't too rattled from this experience, but at the same time the hunter wished they would be a bit more serious. Emala didn't want them scatterbrained when they arrived at the next obstacle.

By now Zalleen had gotten up and was dusting his robes off. He pushed Pierceclaw's snout away with one finger as the red raptor sniffed at him. Apparently he found the smell of the construct dust interesting.

"Oh ya, so funny mon," Zalleen sniggered, trying to sound affronted but not succeeding. The troll mage had an amazing ability to laugh at himself, no matter what the situation. Emala sometimes envied him. Her combustible temper didn't really let her shrug things off like that.

"Enough joking," she said harshly, breaking through the barrier of noise that had been starting to form between her and three of her companions. "We need to move on, standing forever will only help that arrogant storm drake Ernar get what he wants."

Zalleen, Imyra and Skydive took a few seconds to let their sniggers die down, then stopped altogether. Now reminded of the real objective, they stared at Emala waiting for orders. Stormwing had become quiet instantly. His face was shadowed and he was now wearing a downright murderous expression on his face. His bright eyes looked dark under his helm.

"Right enough," he said coldly. "Best to get a hold of that traitor."

Emala nodded slowly, somewhat startled by Stormwing's abrupt mood swing from carefree to full of murderous vigor. Made slightly wary as a result, she looked around their current surroundings, brows furrowed. Until now, everything had been very straightforward, with the only choice being the isolated tunnels they had been using. Now it seemed they had come to a dead end. But after staring at the wall for a few moments, a thought crossed Emala's mind.

"Can any of you drakes smell a air current?"

The abrupt question prompted some surprised looks from the drake numbers of the group, with Stormwing the exception. He seemed to have been operating on the same line of thought as Emala, and was sniffing at the air a second after she had asked. "There's a current," he reported. "Not fresh air, of course, but it's a fair assumption it'll take us back to the hall were the cave in took place." He raised a paw and pointed.

Emala wasted no time and hurried over. She whistled sharply to Pierceclaw, and her pet came bounding over. She was soon able to spot a cleft in the rock through with pale light shone. The hunter edged sideways through the crack, and found it was much bigger than it had looked, just large enough for a drake to slip through. It was, however, rough and jagged around the edges. Emala was fairly certain some of the companions would suffer scratches, although those were hardly anything compared to what they had endured in the recent battles.

After a moment more of watching and still seeing no movement, Emala moved closer to the gap in the rock.

"Come on through," she said quietly, very aware that malice hung in the air even though nothing had shown a sign of appearing. "It's big enough for all of us, and this is were we started."

At the mention of returning to the site of the cave in, the rest of the companions entered through the gap as well. They clustered together and glanced uneasily at their surroundings.

The hall was still recognizable, but barely. The armed statues were still standing, but were webbed with cracks, had lost a few parts, and were leaning at haphazard angles. The companions were standing in a huge indention in the floor, with a steep but climbable slope of masonry and rock that seemed to lead up to the largely intact part of the hall.

"Come on," Zalleen groaned. "We really need to climb that up that?" Then his expression brightened. "Ah, wait. I could just teleport up."

"Or we could fly-" Skydive was interrupted by Emala's abruptly raised hand.

"No," she said quietly. "No porting, and no flying. If something hostile is up there, both methods could alert them. Me and Atlanta will climb the slope and look, as subtly as possible. You stay down here for now."

Skydive nodded, chastised. He folded his wings against his sides and watched as his leader and her old friend began to climb the rocky slope. They did it slowly and carefully, picking wise handholds.

Left alone with Stormwing, the three friends felt somewhat uncomfortable. At the same time, however, they felt a little reassured, possibly from Stormwing's leader like aura.

"So..." Skydive muttered awkwardly in a attempt to make quiet conversation. "How are you?"

Stormwing glanced at him, then then looked back at the figures of Atlanta and Emala. The two tauren had made it a little more than halfway up the slope.

"Fine," he muttered with a barely detectable note of bitterness. "Considering."

He wasn't letting it show, but inside he was throbbing with hurt. Stormwing had trusted Ernar as a friend for a long time, but now the younger drake had obviously betrayed him.

"What ya think is up there?" Zalleen ventured, tilting his head from side to side as he tried to peer past the jagged top of the slope. "I'm expecting anything by now. Exploding mushrooms or a swarm of bats?"

"Exploding mushrooms? A swarm of bats?" Imyra repeated in total surprise. Both she and Skydive stared at the mage for a moment, then began to smile and stifle laughs for the sake of stealth. "Where do you come up with these things?"

Zalleen shrugged with a infectious grin on his face, leaning on his staff. "It's a gift, mon. I figured you needed cheering up."

"It worked," Skydive whispered, his eyes bright with mirth.

"On us," Lastraza reminded the netherwing. She glanced at Stormwing, still standing resolutely by the bottom of the slope. "But not on him, apparently."

Zalleen cocked an eyebrow. "I wonder why? Normally I can make even Emala smile at a joke."

All he got back were uncertain shrugs.

* * *

><p>Emala and Atlanta had now reached the top of the slope after several minutes of hard climbing. The jagged edges of the broken flooring stones were what they grasped and used to pull themselves high enough to peer above the ledge.<p>

The remaining half of the hallway floor was still intact, but lacerated with cracks. Thirty feet away, the towering gold doors loomed. Standing between them and the door was the last thing they wanted to see-yet another guardian.

This one promised to be twice as much trouble as the others. It was at least six feet taller than Rajh and looked even thicker and stronger. It wore a kilt and armor, and a strange blue crown. Other than the metallic skin and enormous height, it looked like a human man.

"Wonderful," Emala grumbled after she and Atlanta had ducked back out of sight. "Another of those damned things."

"Could we sneak by?" Atlanta asked shortly.

"No," Emala responded, clenching her fist in frustration. "That hasn't worked so far, on any of these guardians. It most likely won't work this time either."

The hunter peered at the guardian one more time, then began to descend back down to the other companions. Atlanta followed.

When the two tauren got back to their other friends, they found them waiting patiently where they had been before. It looked like Zalleen had kept them well occupied with jokes in the meantime, as Skydive and Imyra were stifling laughs and Lastraza was smiling. Stormwing was still standing stiffly were they had left him, his expression as stern as a carved statue's. The only visible change as they approached was a slight nod of the head.

"You're back," he said quietly.

"Yes," Emala responded, jumping and landing just beside him. Atlanta picked her way down more slowly, arriving just after her. "Come on, there's a briefing for you to attend."

Stormwing ducked his head respectfully, earning a fleeting look of surprise form Emala. It was gone fast, however, so the storm drake didn't notice. The hunter hadn't expected this level of obedience from him, as it could be seen Stormwing was the commanding type.

That brought a whole new idea to light. Emala had never really seen the need to pick a second in command for the group, but now she was reconsidering that. Judging from what Atlanta and Imyra had told her about the fight with Setesh, Stormwing could be quite capable.

Emala shook her head, clearing the thoughts. There would be more time for her to think about this after their current ordeal was all said and done. On top of that, she didn't even know if Stormwing would stick around afterward.

"Hey!" Emala said sharply, drawing instant attention. "We have another guardian to deal with."

Gesturing for her friends to come closer, she knelt and began tracing invisible patterns on the ground as she began to explain. "Okay, Zalleen. Your teleporting can do us some good, just not on the stealth side of things."

The mage frowned and scratched his head. "Er, what?"

Emala smiled wryly at him. "You get to lead the enemy into a trap."

"What!" Zalleen yelped. "I need to be bait? You know what always happens to bait, right?"

"Don't worry," Emala snorted, glaring at him with annoyance. "Skydive will watch your back. If you can't blink out he'll get you out of trouble. You can handle that, Skydive?"

"Of course," Skydive replied with a fiery tone of vigor.

"Good," Emala muttered, her hand rubbing her chin and green eyes staring intently into empty space in thought. "Now, while Zalleen acts as the bait - "

"Wait a sec!" Zalleen stuttered. "I don't want to be openly called bait."

"That's your fault," Emala replied caustically. "Skydive, be sure to guard the bait from bodily harm."

Skydive nodded and smiled mockingly at Zalleen. He retaliated by elbowing the netherwing in the shoulder. Emala ignored their antics and turned her attention to Stormwing and Atlanta. "You two are the frontal assault. You charge him and don't be hesitant."

"Where does that leave you and me?" Lastraza asked.

"You're going to be taking a more offensive approach than you normally do," Emala answered. "We need everyone to fight this time, but try to heal serious injuries if you can."

"Very well," Lastraza answered, tucking her paws under her chest.

"But," Emala continued, "I'm not done explaining your role. I'm going to be riding on your back. After Atlanta and Stormwing charge that guardian once he's down here in this crater, you and I come at him from behind. Imyra, you fly with us."

"Sounds solid enough," Imyra said, rapping her fingers against the ground. "Should work."

"Keyword being should," Emala muttered. "This place has a knack for throwing us off. But, we'll never know unless we try."

* * *

><p>Zalleen gulped, staring upward at the edge of the cracked remaining intact part of the hall. It wasn't that which frightened him, but rather the prospect of what he would be facing.<p>

"If you don't come back alive, can I have your staff?" Skydive whispered patronizingly.

"No!" Zalleen responded frantically, waving his hands. His crystal tipped staff was clenched in one hand. "I'm coming back alive. I should...anyway, why would you want my staff?"

Skydive shrugged in response. "I could hit things with it?"

"Ah, no," Zalleen responded. "This thing is my only prized possession." He looked upward and sighed. "Okay, can't put this off any longer. Wish me luck."

With that, the top of the mage's staff glowed and he vanished in a flare of white light. Zalleen popped back into existence directly before the guardian, then proceeded to wave his arms about and make himself a center of attention.

It worked. From the guardian Anraphet's perspective, he had been presented with a highly annoying pest that seemed determined to jump about his feet incessantly.

Zalleen's eyes widened when Anraphet lifted his huge foot and brought it down. The mage teleported again, this time reappearing close to the abrupt drop into the crater that had used to be the other half of the hall. At this point Skydive took it upon himself to hasten Stormwing's part of the plan. He dove at the guardian's legs, aiming to knock him of balance.

Sadly for Skydive, he was thinner and considerably lighter than Stormwing. Anrephet simply bent his knees and resisted the force of the netherwing's body. Before he could try and strike Skydive, Stormwing took up his part of the plan. Atlanta riding on his back, the storm drake plunged into a headlong dive at his ally's previous target. Since the storm drake was larger and heavier than Skydive, he was able to successfully make the guardian lose his footing and fall of the precipice.

Anraphet managed to avoid a out of control tumble by bracing his feet in the slope, but he still skid down the slope in a crouch. He tried unsuccessfully to climb back up in the process, but his weight and the loose earth undermined the process.

Lastraza had been circling high in the air above, watching the process with Emala on her back. Pierceclaw clung to the hunter's chain mail. Emala allowed a slight smile to grace her lips. The trap had been sprung and had played out how she thought. The guardian would be restricted to the narrow confines of the gap, and couldn't make full use of the remaining half of the floor. Still, it was most likely only a slight advantage. Now they would need to rely on skill and fortune.

Lastraza went diving downward, ending up behind Anraphet. She opened her jaws and the red drake's fire washed over the guardian's back. At the same time Emala fired a string of arcane shots.

The attack caused a violent reaction from the target. His face didn't seem to show any emotion, but he whirled and lashed out viciously with a fist. Lastraza rolled in midair and then dropped altitude, giving Emala just enough time to sling her bow over her shoulder. The hunter wrapped her arms around Lastraza's neck. The instant the drake leveled out, Emala released her grip.

Lastraza flapped her wings, the tan membrane filling with the still air she could collect. They passed Skydive, who slowed down and allowed Emala to jump on his back after signaling to him. Pierceclaw remained perched on Lastraza on command of his master as she veered away. The way Emala saw it, she didn't currently need Pierceclaw's assistance. Then Skydive and Emala fell into the mindsets they used whenever they entered battle this way. They knew what each other was capable of and needed.

Skydive made a wide and speedy loop around the chamber and banked, heading back in Anraphet's direction. As they approached, the two could see Stormwing engaging the enemy with Atlanta doing the same form his back. Imyra, unable to cast spells in her bird form, stood at the edge of the precipice, with Zalleen aiding her. They were now pelting Anraphet with damaging spells. They appeared only to be doing minor damage, but it was still slowly and surely weakening the guardian.

Still, Anrephet was far from finished. The guardian spoke words of magic in his gravely voice. A dark orb appeared over his head, the purple tint revealing it to be a concentration of shadow magic. The tendrils of the magic within the orb twisted an writhed like it was a nest of snakes.

The companion's first thought was that the orb would be thrown at them and then explode. As it turned out, what actually happened was far worse.

The orb flashed and rays of shadow magic shot out of it in varied directions like violet, bright sunshafts.

Skydive yelped. Emala slung her bow over her shoulder as she had with Lastraza. She then gripped Skydive's sides with her legs as he started to swerve deftly around the beams, twisting and rolling, slipping through the rays like a sparrow.

Then they heard Stormwing let out a bellow of pain. The storm drake, lacking Skydive's maneuverability, had been too slow. A smoking hole was now burned in his wing membrane, and it could be easily seen he was struggling to maintain his hovering position between the rays.

Anraphet proceeded toward him, the beams of magic doing no harm to him. He moved strangely like a stalking predator, despite his size and looks.

Lastraza's yellow eyes flared with protective fire. She cast a healing spell on the other drake's wing. As the membrane regrew Stormwing swerved away from Anraphet's attempt to crush him.

The guardian seemed to let out a dissatisfied growl. He withdrew and seemed to ponder, gazing coldly at the companions as they circled him at a broad distance. Then he struck with deadly speed, aiming at Lastraza, who had misjudged his reach. The guardian's huge fist slammed into her ribs.

She let out a keening cry as her vision briefly faltered. The red drake was thrown back against the stone wall, and slid down to the ground in Anrephet's makeshift prison. She could hear her companion's frantic shouts, but as if they were filtering through several feet of water. Lastraza's ears were ringing, and her ribs hurt abominably. She now found herself lying at the bottom of the crater that was serving as Anraphet's makeshift prison. Certain she had some fractured ribs and very aware of Anraphet's approaching steps, she struggled to her feet, trying to regain the focus to cast a healing spell.

Before the guardian could make a swift end of her, Stormwing's pine green body came plunging from above. With a rare streak of aerial excellence, the storm drake grasped Lastraza and flapped mightily, just avoiding the guardian's massive fist. He deposited the red drake on the edge of the pit, were Imyra, looking alarmed, hurried over.

"Are you okay?" she asked frantically, doing her best to help Lastraza stand. The female drake was gazing at Stormwing, however.

He looked like he was going to say something, then shook his head and said something incoherent. Stormwing then launched himself back into flight, charging at Anraphet. Shaking her head in confusion, Lastraza was now able to heal her fractured ribs. Then she herself took flight once more, following in Stormwing's wake.

After seeing their friend struck and nearly killed, Skydive and Emala had doubled their efforts. The two were now working together as if they were one being, both attuned perfectly to each other's actions. Skydive would fly in loops and spirals, deftly avoiding everything Anraphet tried to do to him, whether it was spells or physical blows. Emala was managing to fire a steady stream of arcane shots at the guardian, followed by explosive shots.

The attacks were starting to add up. Anraphet was beginning to look battered and worn, especially when Lastraza and Stormwing rejoined the fight.

Zalleen suddenly appeared in a flash of white light on Lastraza's back, causing her to become slightly unbalanced a moment. Then the red drake balanced back out and shot a annoyed glance back at the mage.

"Sorry," he said with a bright enthusiasm that contrasted with his grim face. "I wanted to get closer to the action."

Lastraza nodded, her gaze flicking back to their enemy. "I suppose I can relate."

Further conversation was cut off when Anraphet swung at Stormwing. The storm drake veered away, but not before Atlanta leaped from his back and onto the guardian's arm. Before he even knew it, Atlanta's runeblade plunged into his arm. Black liquid trickled out, and Anrephet let out a brass toned bellow of pain. He raised a hand to squash the Death Knight, only for Stormwing to ram into the appendage. He followed the strike up with a blast of lightning from his open mouth.

The bolt struck Anraphet in the face. Momentarily dazed, his hand stalled. Stormwing then angled his wings and glided swiftly down to were Atlanta could jump back to the safety of his strong back.

Angered, Anraphet seemed to decide he didn't want to put up with these annoying mortals anymore. He raised his hands and resumed the chant he had used before to make the orb of shadow magic.

Emala cursed adamantly, gesturing for her companions to come closer. They were all there within a range of twenty seconds, seeing the urgency of their situation.

"We deal with that thing again," Emala said bluntly, pointing at the orb. "This one looks like it's even stronger than the last. We need to find a way to disrupt it, or even better, make it backfire on that fucking pile of stone."

"How would we do that?" Skydive asked edgily, eying the growing ball of magic above Anraphet's head.

"Maybe I could do something," Zalleen said tentatively, fingers nervously running through his red hair. "If me and Imyra were to fire spells at that orb."

"At a precise moment, though," Emala muttered, her eyes glinting as she heard the possibilities. "We'd want to do it..." she watched as the orb seemed to hum in preparation for release, while Imyra landed behind Atlanta on Stormwing's back. The strong drake pumped his wings slightly harder but otherwise showed so signs of effort.

"Now!" Emala commanded harshly.

Zalleen sent a frostfire bolt at the orb instantly, with Imyra following his aid quickly with a moonfire. The spells entered the sphere of shadow magic, and the entire thing let out a alarming, high pitched whine.

Obviously Anraphet wasn't expecting this. He seemed to flinch and recoil slightly. Then the guardian took a few steps back, but it was too late.

With a final earsplitting note, the orb of shadow magic ruptured like a fragile glass ball that had just had a heavy weight dropped on it. The shadow magic darted outward like shards, but faded a few inches away. A purple shock seemed to go through Anraphet, and with a final shudder he disintegrated into gray dust like the rest of the guardians had.

"Finally," Emala exhaled in relief. "Now we just need to get through that door and find-" she stopped abruptly. "Wait," she muttered, a growing sense of unease washing over her. "We-"

"You cleared my way for me."

The cold voice cut through the air like a knife.

**Note: this is where the actual dungeon bosses come to an end, and the point were there will only be one or two more chapters. The conclusion of this story will feature a foe I made up, and the Ultimate One will make a appearance either in the next or last chapter. Update may take longer than usual so I can work out what I want to happen. **

**As always, reviews from both site members and anonymous reviewers are appreciated :D **

**~dharak**


	11. final battle

**I do not own World of Warcraft. It is property of Blizzard Entertainment. **

Time seemed to freeze. Slowly and deliberately, Emala turned around, keeping a stone faced expression up the whole time.

"I knew something wasn't right," she said with frightening calmness. "I just couldn't place it at the time. But now I know. You let us deal with the challenges for you, then followed."

"Brilliant deduction," sneered Ernar.

"Not that it helps you," Emala replied, her tone now as icy as a winter storm. "We still have the key."

Ernar grinned maliciously. His eyes gleamed with exultation, and he held up one paw, showing a gray piece of metal. "I found another way. With the essence of the Temple Guardian trapped in this piece of his skin, I can indeed get in. The power will be mine!"

With that, the young storm drake jumped into flight, gliding over the heads of the companions. Still in a stunned stupor, the others reacted too slowly.

Emala and Stormwing were the exceptions. The hunter fired a explosive shot form her bow, which hit Ernar on the shoulder. He gritted his teeth and faltered slightly, but kept going. Then Stormwing crashed into Ernar, knocking him from the air. The older drake tried to snag the shard of stone skin from the enemy, but Ernar clenched his fist tightly around his prize.

Both drakes fell to the stone floor in a sprawling mess. They bit and clawed viciously, while the rest of the companions started to attribute aid.

Unfortunately, they moved to late. Ernar twisted onto his back, then kicked Stormwing in the stomach with as much force as he could muster. Stormwing wasn't thrown off, but he grunted and his grip slackened. With snakelike grace, Ernar slipped from his grasp and thrust the shard of stone skin into the keyhole.

There was a brief flash of radiant gold light. It blinded Stormwing just as he lunged at Ernar, causing him to stumble and hesitate.

Ernar smirked. As the doors rumbled open he leaped at them, slipping through. With a bloodcurdling roar Stormwing charged after him. He was through almost instantly, fury burning in his eyes.

"After them!" Emala shouted at her stunned companions. "We can't lose them, got it?"

They all nodded mutely. Then the companions ran after their leader and Pierceclaw as both followed the storm drakes through the doors.

Stormwing was engulfed emotionally in a sea of burning flame. He chased Ernar through a room of pillars, skidding around them and then regaining his footing. Hurt and anger seemed to boil in the depths of his soul, eating away at him with a powerful desire for vengeance.

Soon enough Ernar had reached the end of the room. He rammed a shoulder into a heavy and fancily carved wooden door, which splintered and caved as he continued on through the wreckage. Stormwing followed, ignoring the broken wood that scratched and clawed at his pine green flanks. Then he stopped short in amazement, eyes wide and staring.

The chamber was enormous, intricate carvings lining the walls. They glowed in florescent green, blues, and reds. The patterns were swirled and mesmerizing, seeming to mimic every landscape known to existence. Ocean waves, clouds, stars, and high mountaintops were just some of what Stormwing could see. The floor was a pitch black, reflective marble, and he could see his reflection in sharp detail.

Stormwing tore his gaze away from the entrancing spectacle. His eyes fixed onto Ernar once more. The younger drake was standing stiffly before a massive bronze device that reminded Stormwing of the head of a dragonkin, although it seemed to carry traces of other life forms as well. Ernar's outline seemed to glow and spark with a strange green glow.

He growled. Ernar turned his head slightly, a disdainful look in his eye. "So you are here," he said, his voice echoing eerily. "I had just enough time to imbue myself with some of the power from this amazing device. I can now defeat you with ease."

For a reason Stormwing couldn't understand, he remained affixed to the spot. Then he found his tongue and snarled viciously, taking a step forward. "I disagree. _Largely_."

Ernar maintained his cold smile. "I will become the best, Stormwing." Now a maniacal gleam was growing in his eye. "You won't stop me."

The next instant Ernar was lunging at Stormwing, claws spread.

* * *

><p>Emala was strongly aware of her heartbeat as it resounded in her ears. She didn't like to imagine what would happen to Stormwing if he was left alone with the enemy. The rest of the group followed her, equally haggard but refusing to stop.<p>

When Emala entered the chamber behind the splintered door, her mind momentarily went into a state of awe. Then she remembered Stormwing the next instant and looked about wildly, trying to locate him.

It wasn't that hard to find him or Ernar. The battle that was currently raging in the center of the smooth marble floor looked feral and unrelenting, with both Stormwing and Ernar fighting like they had thrown all standards to the wind. Both already bore many wounds, and lightning burns along their flanks.

The alarming thing was the green glow Ernar bore, the madness in his eyes, and the state Stormwing was in. The pine green drake was breathing hard, a long gash running from his chest down to his stomach. Already a fair amount of blood smeared the floor below him.

Lastraza gasped. Quickly she summoned her healing magic, closing the wound and soothing the lightning burns.

When he felt the relief from the healing magic, Stormwing seemed to dig up a extra charge of motivation. Pinned beneath Ernar, he twisted his neck and bit Ernar's foreleg. The result was immediate and effective. The younger storm drake yanked his leg out of Stormwing's grasp, but found himself unbalanced enough for the other drake to knock him away and return to a standing position.

For a moment the two simply glared in hate as the companions spread out, forming a loose half circle around their foe. Ernar maintained a look of aloofness, flexing his paws and smirking as the green aura around him seemed to get stronger, brightening to a neon tint.

Zalleen and Skydive attacked first, ignoring Emala's burning glare aimed at them due to rashness. The mage sent a fire spell at Ernar, while Skydive breathed a jet of fierce blue fire. Imyra crouched and leaped, claws spread, followed by Pierceclaw. The young storm drake watched calmly as the attacks came at him, then made a lazy gesture with one paw. The fire and the spell both deflected, while Imyra and Pierceclaw were brought to a sudden halt. Both fell to the ground, dazed as if they had just hit a rock wall. Ernar then lunged forward with all the ferocity of a rabid animal. He rammed his head into Skydive's chest, knocking him back several feet. Then he whipped his tail at Zalleen. The tail coiled around him and started to squeeze.

Zalleen managed to call up his teleporting spell, and the mage vanished. Ernar lashed his tail in frustration and then beheld both Atlanta and Stormwing charging at him.

Atlanta brought her runeblade down. The weapon bit into Ernar's shoulder, then cut a long gash. The drake lashed out with a paw. Atlanta jumped back, and Ernar's claws raked off her plate armor in a shower of sparks. Stormwing instantly tried to bite him, only for Ernar to whip about and tackle him again.

Ernar raked his claws down Stormwing's side, tearing three long wounds. Stormwing heaved and struggled, but couldn't get free. Seeing this, Emala took action. She fired three explosive arrows at Ernar's head.

At the last second the storm drake moved in preparation to bite Stormwing's throat. Emala's fiery arrows hit his neck and exploded, leaving scorched scale and skin in their wake. Ernar seemed to have gained a strange level of resistance, as he was still standing. Roaring in pain, Ernar fixed Emala with a burning glare. Stormwing took the chance to slam his helmed head into Ernar's jawbone. The younger drake jolted back with a keen.

Stormwing threw Ernar off his back with a strong buck and ran several feet away. He began to prowl cautiously, while the wounds healed up through Lastraza's healing. Ernar, instead of instantly going after him, glided at Emala. The hunter drew one of her one handed swords and with one viscous slice opened up a huge tear in the drake's wing.

Ernar was instantly sent crashing heavily to the ground. Emala leaped backward and then ducked when he launched a flare of bright green lightning from his open mouth. Atlanta, now recovered from the attack against her, advanced again.

Raising her runeblade, the Death Knight fixed a cold gaze on Ernar as her runeblade glowed a sickly green. Then she sprang onto his back and plunged the blade directly at the top of his neck.

Ernar roared and reared sharply. Atlanta's blade cut into the flesh between his shoulders, just as the tauren was thrown to the floor. The storm drake flinched as blood plague started to afflict him. Due to the dragonkin's will and stamina, though, the disease was clearly going to take a long time to truly wear him down.

Then Ernar turned on Atlanta, spreading his wings. The ripped membrane of his left wing was starting to stain red with blood, even as it swayed loosely in the still air. His eyes glowed even as brightly as the green aura around him. Ernar was just about to pounce on Atlanta when his legs were encased in ice, courtesy of Zalleen and rendering Ernar temporarily immobile. Skydive, now circling high above, rained blasts of blue fire down on Ernar's back. Atlanta got to her feet and dodged out of harm's way the instant Ernar broke free.

Stormwing barreled into Ernar's side then, raking his claws down the younger drake's flanks. Emala fired arcane shots at him, while Pierceclaw and Imyra, shifted into her cat form, joined Stormwing in assaulting Ernar.

Ernar felt the multitude of furious blows begin to draw blood. He tensed and then began to growl, while his green aura cracked and sparked. Then a eruption of power burst forth with Ernar at its center.

The force of the explosion tossed all of his attackers to the wind like leaves. Feeling as if they had been shocked by a bolt of lightning, all of the companions were stunned and hence fell heavily to the shiny black floor. Stormwing somehow managed to scramble to his feet after impact, just in time to dodge as Ernar released a blast of green lightning from his open mouth. Then the two began to grapple once more, their savagery increasing by the second.

Zalleen shook his head and blinked. The world still seemed to be spinning in a unhealthy fashion, causing him to temporarily wonder if his vision was permanently addled. This proved to be a false assumption as, to the mage's vast relief, his sight became normal again. He winced as Stormwing was thrown in his direction and crashed into him. Taken unaware, the young troll spent a few seconds dizzily lying beneath the storm drake's heavy body, thanking every star in the sky that his bones were intact. Then, realizing he was quickly getting oxygen deprived, he teleported from beneath the thousands of pounds of drake muscle.

Ernar was advancing on Stormwing as he was still recovering, prompting Zalleen to attack him with a frostfire spell. Emala launched a barrage of arcane shots at the same time, drawing a enraged roar from Ernar. Imyra and Pierceclaw charged up and bit his tail. Atlanta followed up their actions, her runeblade glowing purple. She swiftly struck, cleaving several gashes down Ernar's side.

Ernar suddenly went still. This fact bothered Emala greatly, and seemed to make Lastraza and Stormwing slightly cautious as well.

Then Ernar's eyes flared a frightening molten red. When he roared this time, the force seemed to shake the room. The entire chamber came alive with green electricity, hitting all of the companions. Ernar seemed to grow larger, while Stormwing charged forward and locked paws with him even as the other companions fell with cries of pain.

Emala felt the electricity hit her. Her last sight was of Stormwing in a locked stalemate with a spiked monstrosity that now hardly resembled the young Ernar.

* * *

><p>Emala felt as if she was floating in a void. Blackness was all around her, making the hunter wonder if she was in a place between the world of spirit and living.<p>

"_No, tauren. You are not dead. I simply wish to speak with you..."_

Still in a daze, Emala's mind hardly registered any surprised reaction she would have had normally. Rather, the voice calmed and soothed her. It sounded powerful and strong, but at the same time kind. It was ancient, but at the same time ageless.

The darkness began to become more defined. Tiny points of light began to form. At first they were dim and tentative, like they were afraid to reveal themselves. Then they became brighter and were defined as stars, flushing the blackness a deep indigo.

The enchanting change finally broke Emala's trance like state. Fully aware for the first time since Ernar's lightning bolts, she covered her head with her arms, thinking that the lightning could still strike her. Then, realizing her situation, she forced her frantic mind to calm down. Floating tranquilly in the indigo star spangled expanse, Emala said the first things that came to her mind.

"Who are you?" she demanded, eyes narrowed. "Where am I?"

There was a soft, echoing trace of laughter, with the same tone as the voice before it. The sound seemed to come from everywhere at once.

Then a flare of golden light lit the expanse before Emala. There were not many things that held her spellbound, but when she saw the golden light begin to take shape, Emala couldn't help but be mesmerized.

The form steadily became definable as the outline of a dragon, but so huge it dwarfed any dragons Emala had ever seen, including the Aspects. Still, she felt that this being was no dragon, but rather a immortal who had chosen the form before any had existed.

The form soon lost it's golden glow, instead revealing a massive but thin body covered in flashing rainbow hued scales. The head bore a impressive array of white horns, tipped with black and wickedly sharp. They were also bedecked in gold bands. Wings with a sea blue membrane spread wide, flapping in the nonexistent air. Wide paws tipped with black claws hung beneath the body, each talon as long as a small ship.

It was the eyes that impressed Emala the most. The being before her had eyes that glowed a brilliant, molten silver. She felt as insignificant as a spec of dust.

"_You have been wondering about me ever since you found that riddle, tauren. _The lips of the huge immortal curved in a surprisingly gentle smile.

"You're the Ultimate One?" Emala asked hoarsely. She felt like she had needed to claw her voice up from somewhere in her chest were it had tried to take residence.

A hum of contemplation seemed to rumble from the throat of the being before her. The silver eyes appeared to stare off into unknown realms. _"Ultimate One is indeed one of my names, my universal title among all races and planets. But I am known by many thousands of names, tauren. Nessyria, In'huri..those are only two. I am known to my children's creations as Godith. You may call me Nessyria."_

"_I am the first immortal, you see. I existed alone for eons before I created the universe. When __my children and the immortals that came after them, including your Titans, began to create __life, they based dragons on my appearance-the one you see now."_

"Your children's creations?" Emala confusion was apparent. "Who are your children and their creations?"

"_You wouldn't know, I'm afraid." _Nessyria_'_s voice sounded almost apologetic. _"Most of their creations were mortals, and all live on another planet. You have never met...but no matter. _Nessyria's gaze locked onto Emala, and the hunter could clearly see her reflection in the silver depths. It surprised her, how tiny and awed she looked. _"Rather than dwell on that, it would be far better for me to explain the current situation..._

"How much time has gone by?" Emala demanded, a sudden spike of fear for her companions stabbing into her already worn and frayed mind.

"_None, _was the calm reply. _"I have little influence over time, but I can pull you out of time momentarily, and insure nothing is happening to your friends right now."_

Emala felt herself breathe easier. "Good."

Nessyria nodded slowly. _"It is not often that I interfere with mortal affairs. I have only done it once before, under very drastic circumstances. I feel that you are intelligent enough to guess why."_

Emala only had to think a second to produce the answer. "Mortals would become dependent on you to solve our problems and fight our battles. Then we could start demanding more and get too greedy."

The goddess nodded approvingly, slowly fanning her huge wings. _"Very good. That is why I leave it to other immortals to deal with mortal affairs if need be, and even then aid is most often in the form of visions or advice. We need to be careful with our powers..the only reason I am contacting you is due to the severity of the device I gave the Titans being used wrongly."_

"So you did give it to them," Emala murmured in thought. "Why?"

Nessyria hummed again. _"To help them along. The Titans sought to bring order to Azeroth just after the Old Gods were defeated. It was a world that had already undergone years of evolution, and hence, some help seemed justified. The Titans guarded the device well. The complex they built around it has proved durable. The farthest most intruders have gotten is to Setesh. I believe it was either fate or skill-or both-that allowed you and your friends to best the guardians."_

Emala felt a flash of unease. "Are you angry at us?"

Nessyria shook her head slowly from side to side. _"No. I believe that Ernar could have made it past the guardians quite easily through pure ambition and stubbornness. He most likely tricked you into fighting for you simply due to cowardice. I intend to teach that young dragonkin the errors of his ways."_

"How?" Emala asked hesitantly. "With death?"

"_That would be a mercy." _Nessyria's icy tone was a abrupt change from what Emala had been witnessing earlier. _"Ernar seems to despise mortals and judge them wrongly. It would be far more of a punishment for him to live on...but not as a dragonkin."_

Even as she began to ponder what the goddess meant by the last statement, Emala felt something materialize in her hand. Looking down, she saw a glowing green crystal in her hand.

"_Touch it to Ernar. The slightest touch should do." _Nessyria stated. _"It should nullify his new powers and give you a opening to get your friends away from him. I will do the rest."_

"Why do you want to do this for us?" Emala muttered.

"_You have been fighting bravely," _Nessyria responded. Already she and the starry realm were fading away. _"This has become a personal matter. I did not make that device for corrupt upstarts."_

In a snap, Emala's vision was filled with the scene she had left. Her companions were just recovering form the lightning storm, and Stormwing was still locked in a stalemate with Ernar.

But the stalemate was breaking. Stormwing was beginning to falter and be forced to the ground.

Emala began to run at Ernar. The young storm drake ruined her plan by swiping at her with a claw just as she drew close, opening a gash over the hunter's left eye. She gritted her teeth as blood filled her vision on the left and she was batted away.

From his vantage point high above, Skydive saw Emala gesture and throw the crystal as she fell into a crouch. He dove and snagged the green rock in one forepaw. Skydive looped and dived around Ernar's blasts of green lightning. To onlookers, he was nothing but a blur made up of light and dark blue shades.

Skydive dodged a final bolt with a dive and then pulled up, clearing the floor by a inch. He rammed into Ernar's side and jammed the crystal into his ribs.

The enemy bucked and roared. Emala's shout rose above the storm drake's pained keening. "All of you, get away! Now!"

Skydive scrambled to obey, and was joined by Stormwing as all of the companions bunched together in one corner. Ernar hunched his back, trembling in a fit of pain.

The chamber was lit with a golden burst of light, which flashed off the glassy black floor. Then the light condensed into the imposing form of Nessyria, although the goddess had obviously modified her size to fit the chamber. Even so, she was much bigger than Ernar.

Ernar recovered and stared at Nessyria with burning eyes. "Who're you?" He snarled. "Get out of my way!"

"I think not." In the realm of mortals, Nessyria's voice sounded less ethereal than it had before. It was, however, still deep and now carried a heavy note of menace.

Ernar's intimidation was clear in his expression. All of the companions but Emala watched the goddess with broad, undisguised awe at her majesty.

Ernar growled and leaped at Nessyria. She didn't move the slightest. Her eyes flashed, and he was stopped short, suspended in orb of silver light.

"Foolish, you are," Nessyria scolded icily. "If you honestly thought you could challenge a goddess, the Queen of all immortals especially."

The target of her scorn momentarily mouthed like a fish out of water. Then her seemed to regain his voice, but obviously not courage. Ernar's voice squeaked slightly when it came out, causing Zalleen to snigger crazily.

"Who are you?" Ernar stammered. He flinched when Nessyria turned her gaze on him.

"I am the beginning," the goddess replied calmly. "I will explain no more to you, except that ancient laws make it hard for me to intervene with the world's problems. This is a exception, due to the device's link to me."

"Death?" Ernar rasped out, struggling in vain. "Are you going to kill me?"

"Very full of questions," Nessyria murmured. She kneaded the shining obsidian floor. "No, not death. It would be a mercy..."

Nessyria's voice dropped to the point where nothing could be heard but fragments of mystical chanting. Ernar's prison glowed blindingly white. He screamed, then with was gone in a single flash. The goddess didn't even blink, her eyes staring far off as if in thought.

"What did you do to him?" Stormwing's voice sounded small to him.

"He will live as a mortal," Nessyria replied with a ghostly smile. "And remain one even in death. You have all done well...now I must take my leave. I will send you home, and there you may attend your wounds and rest."

Nessyria shimmered and vanished. A mist obscured the companions. When it cleared, they found themselves sprawled on the dusty rock atop one of the canyon walls in Orgrimmar, by the gate that led out into Durotar.

Up here, they were fairly isolated. Around them the noise of the city roared, but all the group could do was lie on the warm sandstone and catch their breath.

All but Lastraza. The red drake was busily weaving healing magic on Emala's eye. Soon the bleeding lessened and the skin was repaired, leaving only a white horizontal line across the hunter's left eye.

Emala sighed in relief. Wiping the dried blood from her face, she blinked and gave Lastraza a thankful look. She patted Pierceclaw as he snuffled at her. "Good, I won't be half blind the rest of my life," she remarked.

"It did permanently scar," Lastraza said apologetically.

Emala shrugged and stood up. "I don't mind. As long as my vision stays as sharp as ever. I already have one on my lower jaw and my arm anyway."

"You have one on your arm?" Skydive said with surprise. "How come I've never seen it before?"

"You've never had the attention span."

"Very funny."

"How bout we go back to the inn and you tell us how you got it?" Zalleen said eagerly.

"What about Stormwing?" Imyra broke into the conversation. The companions turned their attention to the storm drake. He looked away uncomfortably.

"Are you staying?" Emala said abruptly.

Stormwing continued to avoid eye contact. "I'm not sure."

"Is there anything left in Uldum for you?" Lastraza asked soothingly. The storm drake looked the red straight in the eyes.

"No," he murmured. "I was pretty useless there anyway..." he inched closer to Lastraza, then looked at the rest of the companions. "I'd be honored to stay."

**And hence this story comes to a close. I'm kind of sad...but now I get to expand my oneshot about Atlanta into a actual story, and focus on some other things. Not all bad, then. **

**Please review, especially if you have been reading this and not left any feedback thus far. You can review if you don't have a account on the site. I'd like to hear from you :D**

**~dharak**


End file.
